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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



PUBLIC EDUCATION 
IN RHODE ISLAND 



BY 



CHARLES CARROLL, LL. B., Ph.D. 

Instructor in Rhode Island Education 
Rhode Island Normal School 



PROVIDENCE, R. I. 

E. L. FREEMAN COMPANY, PRINTERS 

1918 



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Copyright, 1918 
CHARLES CARROLL 



OCT 25 1913 

©CLA503962 



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Rhode Island Education Circulars 



PUBLIC EDUCATION 
IN RHODE ISLAND 

By CHARLES CARROLL 



Published Jointly by the State Board of Education, 

the Commissioner of Public Schools and 
the Trustees of the Rhode Island Normal School 



STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 

His Excellency R. Livingston Beeckman 

His Honor Emery J. San Souci 

Hon. George T. Baker Hon. Frank Hill 

Hon. Joseph R. Bourgeois , Hon. Frederick Rueckert 

Hon. E. Charles Francis Hon. Frank E. Thompson 



COMMISSIONER OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS 
Hon. Walter E. Ranger, A. M., LL. D. 



TRUSTEES OF RHODE ISLAND NORMAL SCHOOL 

consisting of 

The State Board of Education 

and the 
Commissioner of Public Schools 



PUBLIC EDUCATION 
IN RHODE ISLAND 



This Study of the Evolution and Development of a Social Con- 
sciousness of Public Responsibility for Education in a 
Republic in which Individualism was the Guiding 
Principle of Those who Founded it and 
Those who Sought its Hospitality 



IS DEDICATED TO 

THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND 
AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS 



INTRODUCTION. 



The need of a new history of education in Rhode Island is 
apparent in view of the fact that the latest historical account of 
the State's educational enterprise was published forty-two years 
ago. The development of the principle of universal education 
and the growth of the public school system during these years 
have been notable in Rhode Island, and the fruitful educational 
experience and civic progress of this period make the prepa- 
ration of this history an important public service. 

A knowledge of Rhode Island public education, including its 
history, law and administration, is valuable to every citizen 
as civic information, but it is indispensable to every teacher 
and superintendent as professional intelligence and inspiration. 
Four years ago, Dr. Carroll gave us his work on school 
law and administration in Rhode Island, and now we are in- 
debted to him for his generous service in the painstaking and 
laborious preparation of the history of education in Rhode 
Island. These two books complete an invaluable exposition of 
Rhode Island Education, in which are revealed the meaning of 
public education and the true function of our public school 
organization. 

In his thorough study of school education before 1876, for the 
period for which others wrote, Dr. Carroll collected new material 
evidently not considered by them, and discovered discrediting 
misconceptions and misstatements, which unfortunately have 
been carelessly accepted and reproduced by later writers. A 
study of the new material and other historical evidence has led 



4 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

him to a radically different interpretation of material and to 
widely different conclusions regarding early educational con- 
ditions in Rhode Island. The book is an attempt to do real 
justice to Rhode Island's progress in education. 

While the book is a new and authentic history of early educa- 
tion in Rhode Island, it is the only comprehensive and critical 
account of the State educational experience and progress for 
the past forty-two years. In that period the number of children 
in public schools has risen from 39,000 to 90,000, and annual 
expenditures for public education have increased from $709,000 
to $4,136,000. The growth of the Rhode Island public school 
system has been attended by an increase in public responsibility, 
an extension of public education to larger numbers and in sub- 
j ects taught, progressive legislation, and improvement in school 
instruction and administration. Dr. Carroll has given us a 
comprehensive survey of this period of accumulative educa- 
tional gains, in which appear such significant marks of advance 
as free textbooks and supplies, mandatory maintenance for 
free public schools, compulsory attendance, state certification 
of teachers, abolition of school districts, extension of supervision, 
required provision for high school education, development of 
opportunities at public expense for higher education extending 
the public school system from the kindergarten to the college, 
extension of the public school system by provision of institutions 
or opportunities for education for those not equipped with 
normal sensory capacity, establishment and maintenance of 
uniform high standards for all schools ; improvement of teaching 
and the economic and professional status of teachers, including 
the development of the greater Rhode Island Normal School and 
other opportunities for the training of teachers, the minimum 
teacher's salary and the teacher's pension; provisions for the 
safety and health of children, including medical and dental 
inspection, compulsory physical training, examination of chil- 
dren for employment, and the establishment of sanitary stand- 



INTRODUCTION. O 

ards for school construction; and an unprecedented development 
of the service of free public libraries, since 1875 a special care of 
the State Board of Education. 

Another valuable feature of the work is that it is written 
with a true conception of public education as a civic interest and 
public enterprise directed by the people's government to insure 
the proper instruction and training of all the public's children 
for a common citizenship. The public school system is rec- 
ognized as an organization of free government, and public 
education as for public protection and welfare. Thus in- 
terpreted, Rhode Island education, in its origin, development, 
organization and administration, has a character peculiar to 
itself, and also appears as a genuine and true type of America n 
public education. 

Grateful appreciation is due Dr. Carroll, not only for his 
service as author of a valuable work, but also for his generosity 
in prefering a free distribution of it to personal gain. His book 
is published for the sake of those engaged in the public service 
of education, with the confident hope that it will help us to 
know better the meaning of public education, to see more clearly 
the ideals of Rhode Island education, to find in its account of 
past educational experience the basis and incentive for continued 
progress, and to recognize the increasing civic obligations of the 
school. 

WALTER E. RANGER, 
Commissioner of Public Schools. 



PREFACE. 



The splendid progress that public education has achieved in 
Rhode Island in the past forty years would warrant publication 
of at least a volume supplementary to Commissioner Stockwell's 
"History of Public Education in Rhode Island." The writer 
has had access to sources of information and to records which 
either were not available or were overlooked in 1876, and these 
have led him to reach conclusions that contradict the interpre- 
tation of Rhode Island educational history presented in earlier 
books. 

The writer's thanks are due to the State Board of Education 
and to the Trustees of Rhode Island Normal School, who have 
made the publication of this book possible ; and more particu- 
larly to Honorable Walter E. Ranger, Commissioner of Public 
Schools, for a kindly interest and a lively encouragement. 
Intimate association with Commissioner Ranger in the past 
three years has given the writer a liberal education in democ- 
racy as well as in public education. 

CHARLES CARROLL. 
Rhode Island Normal School, 1918. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



Page 
I. Rhode Island Colonial Schools, 1640-1776 11 

Settlements, 11; Charter, 12; Alleged Backwardness in 
Education, 13; Its Refutation, 15; Early Town Records, 
15; Rhode Island Theory of Education, 33; An Evalua- 
tion, 34. 

II. The Beginnings op a State School System, 1776-1828. ... 37 

Evolution of Responsibility, 38; Town and Other Records, 41; 
John Howland and Free Schools, 58; Two Surveys, 1819, 
1828, 73; State and Education, 77; Petition for Free 
Schools, 77; Act of 1800, 80; Movements That Failed to 
Function, 82. 

III. Organization of a State School System, 1828-1844 84 

Press and People, 84; Fight for Public Schools, 87; Act of 
1828, 91; Effects of Act of 1828, 94; Reorganization in 
Providence, 96; Record of Statewide Improvement, 102; 
More School Legislation, 106 ; Critical Years, 107; More 
Money and Improvement, 115; Act of 1839, 118; State 
School Committee, 120; Wilkins Updike, 125; Summary, 
128. 

IV. Survey and Reorganization, 1844-1893 129 

Barnard Survey, 130; Barnard Act, 136; Aftermath of Survey, 
141; Major Problems — Adequate Support, 143; Tuition, 
147; Textbooks, 149; Attendance, 153; Training Teach- 
ers, 162; Administration, 166; Commissioner of Public 
Schools, 170; Summary, 175. 

V. Public Schools to Free Schools, 1845-1893 177 

Ten Years of Progress, 178; Years of Quiet Development, 180; 
Opportunity Neglected, 186; Agricultural School, 188; 
A Vigorous Commissioner, 189; Rhode Island Normal 
School, 190; State Board of Education, 194; General 
Assembly and Education, 196; Compulsory Attendance, 
198; Other Advances, 209; Free Textbooks, 215; Sum- 
mary, 216. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 9 

Page) 
VI. Extension and Improvement, 1893-1918 219 

Schools for Defectives, 219; Higher Education — Rhode Island 
State College, 224; Rhode Island Normal School, 228; 
High Schools, 235; Improvement of Public School 
System — Compulsory Attendance, 239; Uniform Stand- 
ards, 243; Improvement of Teaching, 247; Extension of 
Supervision, 251; Abolition of Districts, 253; Safety and 
Health of School Children, 256; Other Improvements, 
258; Progress of Improvement, 263; Ranger Platform, 
265; Chronology of Improvement, 269. 

VII . Public School Finance 272 

Tax Exemption, 273; Auction Dues and Lotteries, 279; De- 
posit Fund, 286; Supplementary Revenue, 291; Appor- 
tionment of Public School Money, 29S; Change in Policy, 
311; Public Support of Schools, 320; State's Contribu- 
tion to Education, 325; Philosophy of School Finance, 
330. 

VIII. The Permanent School Fund 333 

First Report, 336; A New Policy, 345; A New Law and a 
Change of Policy, 353; An Investigation oft the Record, 
359; State's Unacknowledged Debt, 365; Errors That 
Favored the Fund, 367; Foundation of Present Law, 369; 
Great Increase in 1859, 370; Monotonous Increase Re- 
lieved, 373; Process of Reinvestment, 376; General 
Summary, 381; How the School Fund May be Vitalized, 
384. 

IX. School Administration 387 

Contentious Experience of Providence, 389; Intricacies of the 
District System, 402; Town School Committee, 420; 
State Department of Education, 432; Commissioner of 
Public Schools, 441; The State Schools, 449; Problems 
of School Administration, 451. 

X. The School Teacher 461 

Qualifications of the Teacher, 462; Preparation for Teaching, 
470; Teacher's "Contract," 479; State and Teacher, 
484; Ethics of the Profession, 486; Teacher's Pledge of 
Loyalty, 489. 

Bibliography 491 

Index 495 



CHAPTER I. 



RHODE ISLAND COLONIAL SCHOOLS. 



The first permanent white settlement within the borders of 
what is now the state of Rhode Island and Providence Planta- 
tions was made in June, 1636, by Roger Williams and five 
companions. Williams had left Massachusetts to avoid the 
consequences of interference by the rulers of that Puritan 
theocracy with his liberty of conscience. Land was bought 
from the Indians, and a compact, signed later in 1636 by Roger 
Williams and twelve settlers, established Providence Plantations. 

The following year a second band of exiles from Massachusetts 
settled at the northerly end of Aquidneck, since called Rhode 
Island. They were joined in 1638 by Anne Hutchinson, who 
had been their leader in Massachusetts. The island was pur- 
chased from the Indians and the town subsequently named 
Portsmouth was thus established. 

In 1639 religious dissension in Portsmouth prompted a party 
of the inhabitants to seek the southern end of the island and 
start a plantation at Newport. One year later Portsmouth and 
Newport joined in forming a government, with William Cod- 
dington as the first Governor. The towns were still distinct. 

Samuel Gorton, in October, 1642, purchased land from the 
Indians, and in November settled with others at Shawomet, 
later called Warwick. 

The four settlements drew to them a large contingent of dis- 
senters and adventurers. A union under a charter procured by 
Roger Williams in 1643 for the "Incorporation of Providence 



12 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

Plantations in the Narragansett Bay in New England," was 
short-lived, a feud between Portsmouth and Newport on one 
side and Providence and Warwick on the other breaking out. 
Not until 1654 were the differences dissipated through the 
diplomacy of Roger Williams, who was in that year elected 
President of the reunited confederacy. 

THE CHARTER. 

King Charles II. of England granted Rhode Island a colonial 
charter July 8, 1663, under which a permanent government was 
organized. The charter recited that the King had been in- 
formed that the settlers, "pursuing with peaceable and loyal 
minds their sober, serious and religious intentions of godly 
edifying themselves and one another in the holy Christian faith 
and worship, as they were persuaded, together with the gaining 
over and conversion of the poor, ignorant Indian natives in those 
parts of America to the sincere profession and obedience of the 
same faith and worship," had left their homes in England; and 
that since their arrival in America, " for the avoiding of discord 
and those evils which were likely to ensue upon some of those 
our subjects not being able to bear, in those remote parts, their 
different apprehensions in religious discernments," had once 
again left "their desirable stations and habitations" and trans- 
planted themselves "into the midst of the Indian natives ; " 
and that "they have freely declared that it is much in their 
hearts (if they may be permitted) 

TO HOLD FORTH A LIVELY EXPERIMENT THAT A 

MOST FLOURISHING CIVIL STATE MAY STAND 

AND BEST BE MAINTAINED WITH A FULL 

LIBERTY IN RELIGIOUS CONCERNMENTS* 

and that the King granted, ordained and declared that "no per- 
son within said colony, at any time hereafter, shall be any wise 

♦Inscription on State House. 



COLONIAL SCHOOLS. 13 

molested, punished, disquieted or called in question for any 
difference in opinion in matters of religion." 

The charter incorporated the "Governor and Company of 
the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Planta- 
tions in New England in America," and set forth a plan for the 
organization of a government. The colony was described as 
including "all that part of our dominions in New England, in 
America, containing the Nahantic and Nanhygansett, alias 
Narragansett bay, and countries and parts adjacent." The 
boundaries named included approximately the present area of 
the state, with the addition of Fall River and with the exception 
of East Providence and a part of Pawtucket. But if the rival 
claims of Plymouth on the east and Connecticut on the west 
had prevailed, Rhode Island would consist of only a line drawn 
through the channel of Narragansett bay and the Providence 
and Seekonk rivers. As it was, Rhode Island authority was 
established east of Narragansett bay and the Providence, 
Seekonk and Blackstone rivers only in 1747, when a royal 
decree confirmed Rhode Island's claim to Cumberland, Bristol, 
Warren, Tiverton and Little Compton. The border dispute 
with Connecticut was also of long standing. 

Besides the conflict with neighboring colonies arising from 
boundary disputes, besides the disastrous effects of Indian wars 
in which Rhode Island, though having no quarrel with the 
natives, was a battlefield and a sufferer from Indian depreda- 
tions, there was turmoil and jealousy and dissension within 
the colony sufficient to entitle Rhode Island to well-earned 
credit for having fulfilled the mission imposed upon the colony 
by the charter — "to hold forth a lively experiment, that a most 
flourishing civil state may stand." 

ALLEGED BACKWARDNESS IN EDUCATION. 

To religious dissension, to the absence of an established 
church, to Baptist and Quaker distrust of schools as institu- 



14 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

tions closely allied with established churches and foes of liberty 
of conscience, to disgust for schools because Massachusetts and 
Connecticut maintained schools, to hatred of institutions cher- 
ished in the theocracies from which many of the Rhode Island 
settlers had withdrawn, to separatism and extreme individual- 
ism, to anti-social characteristics, to negro slavery, to civil strife 
within and conflict with neighboring colonies, to Indian wars, to 
sparse and scattered settlements — to all of these and some other 
causes has been laid an alleged backwardness in providing schools 
in Rhode Island. In this opinion most writers have followed the 
dicta of Judge Staples and Commissioner of Public Schools Elisha 
R. Potter, who have given the prevailing tone to the works of 
Stone, Higginson, Stockwell, Foster, Kimball and Field. Henry 
C. Dorr and Richman, with more reason, emphasize the obstacle 
to educational and other progress arising from the selfish interest 
of the proprietors of Providence, who formed a party within the 
freemen sufficiently large and influential to dominate the 
latter. Small belittled Rhode Island's interest in education 
on the first page of his "Early New England Schools," and in 
subsequent chapters unconsciously demonstrated the patent 
error in his statement. Arnold and Rider stand almost alone 
in contradicting the prevailing heresy. 

It is positively certain that schools were the least oppressive 
institutions in Massachusetts and Plymouth from which the 
early settlers of Rhode Island departed. The Massachusetts 
law entrusting to selectmen the duty of seeing that children 
were taught to read and understand the principles of religion 
and the capital laws was not enacted until 1642, and the School 
Ordinance of 1647 followed the departure of Roger Williams 
by a dozen years. The Plymouth Colony made no provision 
for schools until 1663. /Newport was probably the first town 
in all English America to establish a public school. The rival 
claims of Massachusetts towns are for school support rather than 
the actual establishment of public schools. 



COLONIAL SCHOOLS. 15 

ITS REFUTATION. 

A complete refutation of the fallacy that early settlers in 
Rhode Island were hostile to schools is found in the records of 
the four original towns united into a civil state by the charter. 
This is the record: 

Newport, settled in 1639, called Robert Lenthal one year 
later, in August, 1640, to conduct a school, and at the same 
time granted to him four acres of land for a houselot, 100 acres 
for the school, and the income of another 100 acres "for a school 
for the encouragement of the poorer sort to train up their 
youth in learning." 

Warwick, as early as 1652, that is ten years after the settle- 
ment, had a building used as a schoolhouse and as a hall for 
meetings. 

Providence, in 1663, set aside 106 acres of land for a school. 

For Portsmouth, the fourth town, there is no record earlier 
than July 30, 1716, when it was ordered that a "new school- 
house" be built upon one acre of land belonging to the town 
situated in the north part of the town. A fair implication 
from the words "new schoolhouse" is that there was or had 
been a schoolhouse in Portsmouth earlier than 1716, but there 
is no positive proof, and beyond the implication from the 
record, no indication of the time when Portsmouth built its 
first schoolhouse or kept a school. 

EARLY RECORDS INCOMPLETE AND FRAGMEN- 
TARY. 

It is not possible to construct from the early records of Rhode 
Island towns which have been preserved a complete and con- 
sistent history of schools. The difficulty arises partly from 
incomplete and fragmentary records, partly from broken series, 
partly from destruction or loss of records, partly from the 
practice of entrusting duties to committees whose reports were 



16 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

by word of mouth or if in writing have not been preserved, and 
partly from the fact that education was not in most Rhode 
Island towns a municipal undertaking. Indeed, it is probable 
that, in some instances at an early date, the incorporation of 
towns served public expediency or political convenience rather 
than community interest and a municipal need. There were 
in 1708 three towns with less than 50 families — East Greenwich 
including West Greenwich, with 240 inhabitants; Jamestown, 
with 206, and New Shoreham, with 208 — which, if in Massachu- 
setts, would not be, under the Ordinance of 1647, obliged to 
maintain schools. 

Of dame schools, of more pretentious schools kept in private 
houses or commodious barns, of home schools maintained for 
their children by the wealthy planters of the Narragansett 
country, of the schoolmaster who taught John Brown to cypher 
in Providence between 1749 and 1752, of village schools sup- 
ported by public subscription and by tuition charges, of school- 
houses erected by subscription of proprietors on land leased or 
let at' will, perhaps put up by the common, joint labor of the 
proprietors, there are no public records. Only when a town 
set aside land for school purposes, or built or repaired a school- 
house, or leased a town schoolhouse, or engaged a teacher, or 
let the town schoolhouse to a teacher, or supplemented the 
teacher's earnings by a salary grant, was the matter recorded, 
and the phraseology of some entries indicates that other items 
of school business had been omitted. Following is a record from 
1663 to the Revolutionary War, as it has been discovered: 

EARLY TOWN RECORDS. 

Providence— Population, 1446 in 1708, 3916 in 1730, 3452 in 
1748, 3159 in 1755, 4321 in 1774, and 4355 in 1776. From the 
original town were set off Glocester and Smithfield in 1730, 
Cranston in 1754, Johnston in 1759, and North Providence in 
1765. 



COLONIAL SCHOOLS. 17 

In 1683 John Whipple complained that the order previously 
passed, to set aside school lands,* had not been complied with. 
There was at least one schoolmaster in Providence at that 
period, for in 1684 William Turpin, who described himself as 
the town schoolmaster, asked that the school lands be set out 
to him. Of William Turpin Judge Staples wrote that his 
interest in education was a stepping-stone to honor, if not to 
fortune; that he represented Providence in the General Assem- 
bly in 1722-23, was Town Clerk in 1727, and died in office 
while Town Treasurer in 1744. But William Turpin, school- 
master, died in 1709, leaving a son named William, whose 
record of public service Judge Staples ascribed to his father. 
The similarity of names no doubt misled the Annalist. 

John Dexter, William Hopkins, Epenetus Olney, William 
Turpin, Joseph Whipple, John Smith, Philip Tillinghast and 
Joseph Smith, in 1695-6, asked for "a small spot of land to erect 
a schoolhouse upon in some place in the town about the highway 
called Dexter lane or about the Stampers Hill." "A spot of 
land 40 feet square" was granted "where it may be most con- 
venient." Dexter lane is now Olney street, and the name of 
Stampers Hill is still preserved by Stampers street, a narrow 
thoroughfare almost at the crest of Constitution Hill, as North 
Main street crosses Olney street. The grant was to be null 
and void if no schoolhouse was built within a considerable time. 
Hemy C. Dorr says the enterprise failed because the proprietors 
neglected to grant, along with the land, timber, of which the 
petitioners stood in need. There is no record of any kind to 
indicate that a schoolhouse was built, although Henry R. 
Chace located a schoolhouse site on Olney street, between 
North Main and Stampers street, on his map of Providence in 
1770. The report' of the committee on school property in 1768 
did not mention a schoolhouse in the north section of the town. 

*The order of 1663 setting aside 106 acres of land for a school. 



18 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

The name of a second schoolmaster appears of record in 1735, 
when George Taylor was given permission to keep a school in 
one of the chambers of the Colony House at Providence, "on 
condition that the glass of said house should be kept in con- 
stant good repair," and that he should "erect a handsome 
sundial in front of said house, both for ornament and use." 
Taylor was an Englishman. That he tarried in Providence 
appears from the town record for 1753, when George Taylor 
was given leave to use the town schoolhouse, on condition that 
he "school or teach one poor child" recommended by the town 
schoolhouse committee, "gratis, or for nothing." From the 
reminiscences of Samuel Thurber we learn that Taylor's school 
was kept for church scholars, and that perhaps he received some 
compensation from England. 

In 1754 Stephen Jackson, schoolmaster, leased the town 
schoolhouse for £45, old tenor, which the town ordered applied 
for repairing the building. Here is a characteristic example of 
the incompleteness of old town records. When was the school- 
house built? When was the land on which it stood set off as a 
school site? There is no record to fix the date of location or 
building. A plat of warehouse lots on Town street, made in 
1747, shows a school lot west of the street, which is now called 
North Main street. In 1752 the town granted to the colony 
for a new jail "the flats in the Salt river, being the west end 
of the lot that was formerly granted for the use of a school 
whereon the town schoolhouse in said Providence standeth." 
This entry fixes the time of building earlier than 1752, although 
the first school committee is named in the record for 1752. 
That the school kept was not a free school appears from the 
nature of the agreements with George Taylor and Stephen 
Jackson. In 1764 the Town Clerk was authorized to lease the 
schoolhouse to another schoolmaster, and in 1765 the property 
was sold in exchange for the Colony House lot, the Colony 
House having been destroyed by fire in 1758. 



COLONIAL SCHOOLS. 19 

In 1751 Gideon Comstock, Alexander Frazier, James Field, 
Thomas Angell, Barzillai Richmond and Nehemiah Sprague, 
citing an agreement between themselves and others and a sub- 
scription of money for the purpose, asked for permission to 
build a schoolhouse "on the vacant land at the Sowdy Hill, a 
little above Joseph Snow, junior's, dwelling house, there being 

room to set it on and leave the road feet wide on each side, 

which will oblige us the subscribers and others the inhabitants 
who are willing to spend their money for leiming and for the 
publick good." The request was granted, but the lot was 
found to be too small for the proposed schoolhouse, and the 
propiietors located their school upon other land, at what is now 
the northwest corner of Chapel and Mathewson streets, the 
latter formerly known as School street. This was the first 
schoolhouse west of the river. 

There was still another schoolhouse in Providence earlier than 
1768, located by Chace at the southwest corner of Power's lane 
and Back street, now Power and Benefit streets. It was referred 
to in the report of the committee which recommended public 
schools in 1768 as "the schoolhouse down-town," which should 
not be purchased by the town because it would cost too much. 

Among other indications of an awakened interest in educa- 
tion in Providence in the middle of the 18th century was the 
purchase of a library in London by Stephen Hopkins and other 
subscribers, who obtained permission to keep the books in the 
Colony House, an arrangement that "would provide a real 
ornament to the house and afford an agreeable amusement to 
the members in their leisure hours." The library was destroyed 
by the fire which razed the Colony House in 1758, and in 1759 
the subscribers were granted a lottery to raise money to replace 
the books, on condition that they should thereafter be accessible 
to the members of the General Assembly. In 1762 William 
Goddard printed the first Providence newspaper, the Gazette. 
Gregory Dexter, a companion of Roger Williams, was the first 



20 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

printer in Providence. He printed Roger Williams's key to the 
Indian language in London; he did not set up a press in Provi- 
dence. In 1764 Rhode Island College, later known as Brown 
University, was chartered and located temporarily at Warren. 
Providence, Newport, Warren and East Greenwich became 
rival candidates for the honor of becoming the permanent home 
of the college, which fell to Providence through the enterprise 
of inhabitants who raised about $15,000 as an endowment. 

Affecting schools more directly, Joseph Olney, Esek Hopkins, 
Elisha Brown and John Mawney were elected a school com- 
mittee in 1752, to care for the town schoolhouse and to appoint 
a master. Perhaps this committee and other early school 
committees should be designated schoolhouse committees; their 
duties were stated explicitly in 1756 as being "to have the 
general oversight and care of the town schoolhouse, as well as 
for repairing the schoolhouse, appointing and consulting with 
the master, or doing what else may be needful about the same, 
provided that the town be put to no expense thereabout." This record 
makes clear also the general attitude of the town of Providence 
in 1756 toward school support. There was no inclination to 
assume the burden of school support beyond providing a 
schoolhouse. 

The centennial of the Charter, the year 1763, was reached 
with probably three schoolhouses in the town of Providence — ■ 
the town schoolhouse, by that time in poor repair; the school- 
house on the west side of the river, and, possibly, "the school- 
house down-town." The town boasted also a newspaper and a 
library, and preparations were being made for the chartering 
of a college. 

The town voted in 1767 to provide four schoolhouses and to 
place the schools under control of a school committee. Com- 
mittees on school property and for the preparation of regulations 
were appointed. Both committees reported Jan. 1, 1768. 



COLONIAL SCHOOLS. 21 

The committee on school property had examined "the school- 
house down-town," but found that it would cost too much. 
While the schoolhouse on the west side of the river was found 
convenient, some of the proprietors refused to sell their interests 
to the town. The committee recommended the building of 
two schoolhouses, 26x18x10 feet, east of the river, one at the 
upper and the other at the lower end of the town, but that until 
after the annual town meeting no further action be taken west 
of the river. The committee recommended also the construc- 
tion of a larger brick schoolhouse, to cost £485, on the old 
Colony House lot. 

The committee on regulations presented an elaborate report 
in the form of an ordinance providing that the proceeds of the 
sale of the old schoolhouse property should be applied to con- 
struction of new schoolhouses; that the additional cost of the 
new enterprise should be assumed by the town; that £520 be 
raised by tax; that schoolmasters be provided at the expense 
of the town; that a school committee be appointed, repre- 
senting all sections, with ample powers to conduct town schools, 
engage and dismiss schoolmasters and ushers, but with no power 
to repair schoolhouses (a power still denied the school com- 
mittee of Providence and retained by the city council). The 
report continued thus: 

" That every inhabitant of this town whether they be free of 
the town or not, shall have and enjoy an equal right and privilege 
of sending their own children, and the children of others that 
may be under their care, for instruction and bringing up, to 
any or all of the said schools. And that each and every scholar, 
before they be admitted into any of the small schools, shall have 
learnt their letters and acquired some acquaintance with spelling. 
And before they be permitted to enter the larger school, they 
must have gained considerable knowledge in reading and 
writing, and that all those who may be thus qualified shall and 
may be admitted to all the advantages of education that may 
be taught in either of the respective schools. And in case any 
dispute should arise, touching the qualifications of any child 
the same may be determined by the school committee. 



22 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

" That not exceeding two hours in each day shall be taken up 
in the large school in perfecting the scholars in reading, accent- 
ing, pronouncing and properly understanding the English 
tongue. That the remaining school hours shall be employed in 
teaching the children and youth in writing, arithmetic, the 
various branches of mathematics and the learned languages. 
The whole to be taught in one or separate apartments in said 
house, under the direction of said committee, as the circum- 
stances of said school, from time to time, shall require, and as 
will have the best tendency to increase and spread knowledge 
and learning. 

"The children under the care of non-resident freeholders 
shall be admitted into said school, provided said freeholders 
shall pay the sum of twelve shillings, lawful money, in the 
school tax annually; and also those inhabitants of the town 
who pay twelve shillings annually to the support of the school, 
if they have no children or apprentices of their own, shall have 
liberty to send the children of any friend or relative of theirs 
living out of this town."* 

The town meeting rejected both reports. Moses Brown, 
of one committee, wrote this comment upon the town's action: 
" 1768, Laid before the town by the committee, but a number of 
the inhabitants (and what is most surprising and remarkable, 
the plan of a free school, supported by a tax, was rejected by the 
poorer sort of the people), being strangely led away not to see 
their own as well as the public interest therein (by a few objectors 
at first), either because they were not the projectors, or had 
not public spirit to execute so laudable a design, and which was 
first voted by the town with great freedom." 

The town meeting that rejected the reports did, however, 
resolve to build a two-story brick schoolhouse, 30x40 feet, near 
the court house out of the proceeds of the sale of the old town 
schoolhouse, a tax of £100, and £182 17s, to be raised by public 
subscription, and to support a free school in the building. 
Public subscriptions twice failed to reach the amount desig- 
nated, but in July, 1768, a list was completed and building was 
undertaken. The subscribers were incorporated in 1770. A 



*Small, Early N. E. Schools, p 198, cites this last paragraph, omitting reference to the 
earlier paragraphs in the report, and to the disposition which was made of the report. 



S 



COLONIAL SCHOOLS. 23 

two-story structure was erected, the lower floor controlled by 
the town, the upper by the proprietors. The building still 
stands on Meeting street close to the Friends Meeting House. 
Both floors were occupied in 1770, the upper by Rhode Island 
College, and the lower by the University Grammar School, 
while the college, which had removed from Warren, awaited 
the completion of quarters in University Hall. Benjamin 
West, the astronomer, kept a school in the building afterward, 
receiving "his reward for educating from the parents of those 
that he shall teach." 

Stephen Hopkins, Jabez Bowen and Moses Brown, the last 
two proprietors, were appointed a committee, in 1772, "to 
draw up regulations for the town schoolhouse, and to procure 
and agree with suitable persons to keep the same at the expense 
of those who sent their children and youth to said schools, and 
to do everything necessary toward rendering said school 
useful." Except that the town owned part of a new school- 
house, little progress toward free schools had been made. 

The movement that failed in town meeting in 1768 bore 
other fruit, however. Another company of proprietors was 
chartered in 1768, and in November a schoolhouse, designed 
for two schools, was built on upper Benefit street, on the site 
at the corner of Halsey street, now occupied by a brick primary 
school building. This schoolhouse was named Whipple Hall, 
for Captain Whipple, who donated the land. The school was 
a graded school, opening with George Taylor, Jr., in charge of 
the upper grade, and Sally Jackson the lower. E. M. Stone 
gives the following list of teachers who succeeded Taylor: 
John Barrows, Nathan Downe, Sumner Wood, Joseph Balch, 
Solomon Bradford, Abner Tucker and John Dexter. 

The Revolutionary War terminated school activity in Provi- 
dence. The college was closed, University Hall serving as a 
barracks for French soldiers. Whipple Hall became a powder 
magazine and meeting place for a revolutionary committee, and 



24 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KHODE ISLAND. 

the Meeting street schoolhouse became a chemical laboratory 
for the manufacture of explosives. 

Portsmouth:— Population, 628 in 1708, 813 in 1730, 992 in 
1748, 1363 in 1755, 1512 in 1774, 1374 in 1776. Besides the 
new schoolhouse already referred to as ordered built in July, 
1716, another school was built in the south part of the town in 
September, 1716, on recommendation of a committee which 
reported that it had considered "how excellent an ornament 
learning is to mankind, and the great necessity there is of a 
public schoolhouse on the south side." The town made an 
appropriation and appointed a committee to build the school- 
house and solicit contributions for finishing it. Commenting 
on the phraseology of the committee report and the designation 
of a special necessity on the south side, Arnold concludes that 
there was an earlier schoolhouse in some other part of the town. 
He had overlooked the vote of July, 1716, which proved his 
inference correct. Other schoolhouses were erected in Ports- 
mouth as follows: Two in 1722, one in 1746 near Bristol 
Ferry, one in 1763 on Prudence Island, and one in 1733 in the 
southern part of the town, the last upon the petition of William 
Brown and others, who undertook the expense additional to 
£30, which the town was asked to appropriate. 

Newport— Population, 2203 in 1708, 4640 in 1738, 6508 in 
1748, 6753 in 1755, 9209 in 1774, 5299 in 1776. Middletown 
was set off from Newport in 1743. Newport was the largest 
town in the colony. The early records of Newport were ship- 
wrecked in Hell Gate while being taken to New York during 
the Revolutionary War. Although the books were subse- 
quently recovered, a large part of the records were damaged 
irreparably. 

The early records preserve the names of two successors of 
Robert Lenthal, each of whom had the use of the schoolhouse, 
and the profits of the school land. They were John Jethro and 



COLONIAL SCHOOLS. 25 

Thomas Fox. In 1661 the school land set apart in 1640 was 
exchanged for other land. An additional grant of school land 
was made in 1697. 

Little is known of the first schoolhouse in Newport beyond 
that it was standing in 1685 and had fallen into decay in 1700, 
though the timber in it was such that Ebenezer Mann asked and 
received permission to take some of it for use in building his 
new house. In 1700 the town sold land to finish the "school- 
house in or near the market place in Newport," This probably 
was the schoolhouse that the town voted to build in 1704. 
The vote to build was subsequently rescinded, when land was 
granted to Samuel Cranston and others for the purpose of a 
schoolhouse. Had the proprietors abandoned their enterprise 
in 1706? A tax of £150 was laid to supplement the proceeds 
of the sale of lands, and the inhabitants of the north part of the 
town were exempted because they lived too far off to send their 
children to the school. The town council was ordered, in 1708, 
to take the schoolhouse into their hands, to manage all the 
prudential affairs belonging to the school, always reserving to 
the quarterly meeting of the town the power of choosing the 
schoolmaster. William Gilbert was chosen schoolmaster in 
1709, receiving "the benefit of the school land, viz., the chamber 
and sellar and the profits arising from the school land in this part 
of the town, and some conveniency for keeping of fire in the 
winter season." The year following William Gallaway was 
granted "the liberty of teaching a Latin school in the two little 
rooms in the schoolhouse of this town." 

The first schoolmaster elected in town meeting was John 
Callender, June 3, 1746. In 1748 Mr. Callender died; his 
successor was Terrence Donally. 

Another schoolhouse was ordered built in 1713, and 106 acres 
of land were granted in 1723 for a school in the eastern part of 
the town, called the Woods, now Middletown. "All the public 
schoolhouses in the precinct of Newport," including "par- 



N 
26 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

ticularly the great schoolhouse," were ordered repaired in 1726 
and "paid out of the treasury." The order for building in the 
Woods in 1723 may be interpreted as providing for two school- 
houses; a vote in 1729 of £10 each for two schoolmasters in the 
Woods section lends color to the interpretation. Schoolmasters 
were appointed from time to time, and it is fair to presume that 
schools were kept in Newport with some approximation to 
regularity. 

James Franklin, elder brother of Benjamin Franklin, set up 
the first printing press in Newport in 1727, and began publishing 
the Rhode Island Gazette, the first Rhode Island newspaper, in 
1732. James Franklin* established the Newport Mercury 
in 1758. The Redwood Library was incorporated in 1747. 

A sale of school land was authorized in 1763. Higginson, 
Stockwell and Field report the school land as divided into lots 
and sold or leased in 1663, the proceeds to be applied to educa- 
ting poor children. The same authors report a similar division 
and sale of land in 1763. Field follows the narrative of Higgin- 
son and Stockwell closely. Higginson and Stockwell cite Henry 
Barnard's Journal of the Rhode. Island Institute of Instruction 
as authority for a sale in 1663. Barnard does not mention the 
sale in 1763. If Barnard is not in error, the town of Newport 
in 1663 did exactly what it voted in precisely the same language 
to do again in 1763, just a century later. There is no existing 
public record of a sale of school lands in Newport in 1663. The 
language of the ordinance of 1763 follows: "That the monies 
arising from the sale of said lots and also the annual quit rents 
forever, shall be paid to the town treasurer for the time being, 
and that the same shall be ' a fund for the schooling and educating 
of poor children, according to the discretion of the town council, 
for the time being, who are hereby empowered to direct, regu- 
late and manage the said charity in behalf of said town to the 
best advantage, according to the true intent and meaning 

*Son of the James Franklin already mentioned. 



COLONIAL SCHOOLS. 27 

thereof.' " The language quoted by Henry Barnard is placed 
within single quotation marks. One may venture to guess 
that the date as given by Barnard results from a typographical 
error, and that it was intended for 17G3. And, besides, it seems 
altogether unlikely that land in houselot parcels would be in 
demand in 1663, whereas in 1763 Newport was a thriving 
commercial centre and probably compactly built in some sec- 
tions. Higginson, Stockwell and Field, however, report both the 
quotation from Barnard and the full text of the ordinance of 
1763. The proceeds of the sale in 1763 were used many years 
later to start Newport's venture with free public schools. 

The public schools of Newport were tuition schools, with 
special provision for free education for poor children. Side by 
side with them nourished private schools. There were, besides 
the public schools, at least two other opportunities for education 
open to poor children. By the will of Nathaniel Kay of London, 
Trinity Church received land and over £400 in currency with 
which to establish a school, on condition that it "teach ten 
poor boys their grammar and mathematics gratis." Mary 
Brett in 1773 kept a school on High street for young negroes. 
The school had been endowed by benevolent clergymen of the 
Church of England, living in London, with a "handsome fund" 
to instruct 30 negro children in reading, sewing, etc. 

The town schoolhouse was destroyed by fire in 1774; it was 
not rebuilt. The Revolutionary War, and the occupation of 
Newport, first by the British, and subsequently by the French, 
closed the first chapter of the history of public schools in New- 
port. Nearly half a century was destined to pass before New- 
port as a town again undertook public education. 

Warwick.— Population, 480 in 1708, 1178 in 1730, 1782 in 
1748, 1911 in 1755, 2438 in 1774, 2376 in 1776. Coventry was 
set off from Warwick in 1741. A schoolhouse, used also for 
town meetings, was built in Old Warwick in 1716. It was a 
proprietors' school. The town voted in 1716: 



28 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

" Whereas a hous hath lately bin built upon the towne orchard 
for a schoole hous, and a great part of the expense hath bin paid 
by some partickular persons, thereupon, upon further con- 
sideration, it is surrendered up to be for the use of the towne 
meetings upon such occasions only, reserving the liberty that it 
may be still for the use of a schoole hous for themselves and the 
rest of the towne that shall see cause, and remaining part of the 
cost and charge to be paid by a rate levied upon the whole 
towne, the sum of £130 in money or pay equivalent to be paid 
to those that built the hous as above, s'd to be paid out of the 
next towne rate, therefore, we, the proprietors, for further 
encouragement of the said schoole, we doe by these presents 
ennex the the above said lot and orchard thereunto for the use 
of said schoole." 

The vote of the town meant that the proprietors of the 
schoolhouse had agreed to permit the town to use it for town 
meetings, and that the town had assumed the burden of the 
cost of building to the extent of £130, and had granted the use 
of the lot on which the school stood and the orchard for use 
with the school. Except for the special use as a meeting place, 
the arrangement was of a type frequently observed in early 
Rhode Island school history — a land grant and some assistance 
for the encouragement of proprietors undertaking the building 
of a schoolhouse. 

The town meeting that voted thus met at the home of James 
Carder, father of Joseph Carder, one of the early teachers. 
Other teachers in colonial times in Warwick were Charles 
Morris, Thomas Lippitt and Ephraim Arnold. Warwick closes 
the list of four original towns. All had made some provision 
for schools or the encouragement of schools. 

East Greenwich was incorporated in 1677; West Greenwich 
was set off from East Greenwich in 1741. No record has been 
found of town provision for schools before the Revolution. In 
1774 the General Assembly granted a lottery to inhabitants of 
East Greenwich for the purpose of raising $600 for schools. 

Smithfiel'd was taken from Providence in 1730-1731. It 
comprised the territory now occupied by Smithfield, North 



COLONIAL SCHOOLS. 29 

Smithfield, Lincoln, Central Falls and part of Woonsocket. In 
1771 a meeting of Friends at Woonsocket voted : " It is thought 
necessary that poor children be schooled." The Friends in 
1777 appointed a committee to draw up a plan for establishing 
a free school among the Friends. The plan adopted provided 
for the appropriation of a donation made by Rebekah Thayer 
toward the support of a school. The school was migratory, 
the committee having charge to keep it from time to time in 
different places. The committee was empowered to select and 
hire a teacher, to raise subscriptions for the support of the school 
and to select among the youth in the families of Friends those 
whose circumstances entitled them to schooling without charge 
under the donation. 

Exeter was set off from North Kingstown in 1742-1743. In 
1696 Samuel Sewall of Boston donated 500 acres of land in 
Exeter to maintain a grammar school in the district, but no 
action was taken by the town until 1766, when the General 
Assembly authorized the town to accept the gift and to build a 
schoolhouse on the Ten Rod road. 

Middletown, the "Woods," was set off from Newport in 1743. 
As early as 1702 six acres of land were set aside in what was to 
be Middletown, as school land. More land was set aside for 
school purposes, later, and Newport provided at least one school- 
house for the section in 1723, though the records indicate the 
possibility that two schoolhouses were to be constructed, it 
being ordered that £20 apiece be paid out of the town treasury 
for the building of the schoolhouse in the Woods." At the first 
town meeting in 1743, a motion to repair the schoolhouse was 
presented,, and in 1753 repairs were ordered on the Eastmoss 
(possibly eastmost) schoolhouse. In 1754 the town appointed 
a school committee, w ith authority to hire or agree with a good 
schoolmaster to keep school, one-half time in the east school- 
house, and one-half time in the west schoolhouse. The school- 



30 PUBLIG EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

master was to receive the income from the school land, tuition 
from his pupils at a rate to be fixed by the school committee, 
and from the treasury the balance necessary to make up the 
salary agreed upon. Two years later the school committee was 
abolished, and power was given the town council to rent the 
school lands and hire a schoolmaster, an important change if it 
meant that the schools were to become free public schools in 
fact. The town receded from its advanced position, however, 
and in August, 1747, Edmund Tew was engaged as schoolmaster, 
to keep school for two months, receiving tuition and £5 out of 
the rents of the school land. Edmund Tew was succeeded by 
Ebenezer Reed. Varying terms were made with successive 
schoolmasters, some paying rent for the schoolhouse. In 1754 
the town was divided into school districts. 

THE DISPUTED TERRITORY. 

By royal decree in 1747, confirming Rhode Island's claim to 
the eastern boundary line described in the charter of 1663, 
Cumberland, Bristol, Tiverton, Little Compton and Warren, 
including Barrington, were added to the colony. Bristol, 
Warren and Barrington had schools when they became Rhode 
Island towns. No record of early schools in Tiverton or Little 
Compton has been found, Massachusetts law to the contrary 
notwithstanding. Cumberland, perhaps, participated in the 
activity of the Woonsocket Friends, already mentioned under 
Smithfield. 

Barrington was set off from Warren in 1770. School activity 
in Warren began in the Barrington section while Barrington 
was held as part of Swansea, Bristol county, Massachusetts. 
In 1673 John Myles, pastor of the churchy was employed as 
schoolmaster in a school for "the teaching of grammar, rhetoric 
and arithmetic, and the tongues of Latin, Greek and Hebrew; 
also to read English and to write." His salary was fixed at £40 
per annum in currency. The school was not a free school. 



COLONIAL SCHOOLS. 31 

The town records show a long line of successors to John Myles 
and indicate that schools were kept in Barrington regularly. 
Barrington was divided into three school districts in 1770. 

Warren was the first home of Rhode Island College in 1764, 
and of the University Grammar School, which Dr. Manning 
established as a preparatory school and conducted in the 
parsonage of the Baptist Church. The General Assembly 
granted a lottery to provide money to complete the parsonage 
for use by Dr. Manning's students. 

Bristol was settled in 1680. Two years later the town voted: 
"That each person that hath children ready to go to school 
shall paj>- three pence a week for each child's schooling to the 
schoolmaster, and the town by rate, according to each ratable 
estate, shall make the wages to amount to £24 the year. The 
selectmen to look out a grammar schoolmaster, and use their 
endeavor to obtain £5 of the Cape money granted for such an 
end." A houselot, ten acres of land and commonage were 
voted for the schoolmaster's use. The Cape money was the 
revenue that Plymouth Colony derived from profits arising from 
fishing with nets or seines at Cape Cod for mackerel, bass or 
herring, which the colony in 1670 granted "to be improved for 
and toward a free school in some town in this jurisdiction, for 
the training up of youth in literature for the good and benefit of 
posterity." In 1677 the colony ordered the Cape money dis- 
tributed "to such towns as have such grammar schools, not 
exceeding £5 per annum to any one town." Because Bristol 
does not appear in the list of towns which received Cape money, 
Small concluded* that probably no school was established in 
Bristol pursuant to the vote in 1682, The records of Cape 
money distribution do not extend beyond 1684. At least as 
early as 1685, perhaps earlier, Samuel Cobbitt was serving as 
town schoolmaster in Bristol. 



•"Early N. E. Schools," p. 17. 



32 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

In 1699 Bristol was divided into two school districts, and in 
1700 £20 was voted for the south district on condition that it 
"improved a schoolmaster" eight months of the year, and £10 
to the north district for a four months school. In 1709 the 
same schoolmaster served both districts, teaching three winter 
months on the Neck and the balance of the year in "the town." 

At the beginning schools in Bristol were taught in rooms in 
private houses, hired and paid for by the town. The first 
appropriation for erecting a town schoolhouse was made in 
1702, when £20 was voted for a schoolhouse in the compact part 
of the town. Twenty-five years later £50 was appropriated 
to build a schoolhouse, 26x20 feet, in the town, and the same 
year, 1727, the town paid £20 for a schoolhouse already built 
on the Neck by private parties. The school on the Neck was 
sold in 1765. 

Nathaniel Byfield's gift of school land in 1714 "for and in 
consideration of a due regard which he had for the advancement 
of learning and good education," made simple the problem of 
school support. The Byfield land yielded an almost unfailing 
income, which relieved the people of the burden of direct taxa- 
tion for schools and likewise removed any temptation to back- 
sliding. Beginning in 1718, money collected for licenses for 
entertainments was appropriated to school support. The town 
records contain a long list of names of teachers, engaged from 
time to time, and show that schools were kept regularly in the 
town down to 1772. In 1751 Bristol appointed its first school 
committee, and probably the first school committee in Rhode 
Island.* St. Michael's Church, Bristol, like Trinity Church, 
Newport, received a legacy from Nathaniel Kay, to be used 
for the education of poor boys. 

For Westerly, incorporated in 1669; New Shoreham, 1672; 
North Kingstown, 1674; Jamestown, 1678; South Kingstown, 
1722; Scituate and Glocester, 1730; Charlestown, 1738; West 
Greenwich and Coventry, 1741; Cumberland (except Woon- 

♦Providence, 1752; Middletown, 1754. 



COLONIAL SCHOOLS. 33 

socket, see Smithfield) , Little Compton and Tiverton, 1747; 
Richmond, 1747; Cranston, 1754; Hopkinton, 1757; Johnston, 
1759, and North Providence, 1765, records of public school 
support before the Revolution have not been found. These 
towns had a combined population of 31,719 out of 55,011, for the 
colony, in 1776. For the most part they were towns of large 
area, and their population was scattered. Before the war the 
interests of Rhode Island were agricultural and commercial; 
the era of industry and the factory village had not come. The 
absence of town records does not prove that these towns were 
without schools. 

Viewing the colony as a whole, in 1770, in provision for 
public education, the three towns on the Island of Rhode 
Island — Newport, Portsmouth and Middletown — and Bar- 
rington, Warren and Bristol were leading. The situation in 
Providence was hopeful, though far from being all that could 
be wished for. Providence was not satisfied with "public 
schools" in the sense in which the term was commonly used 
in the eighteenth century; the movement molding public 
opinion there and pressing for expression aimed at public schools 
free for all children without respect to ability or inability to pay 
tuition. 

THE RHODE ISLAND THEORY OF EDUCATION. 

The early town records show that, while no town undertook 
responsibility for the provision and maintenance of schools 
exclusively at the expense of the taxpayers, there were four 
ways in which public education was assisted and encouraged, 
viz. : 

1. By land grants of school sites, houselots for school- 
masters and tracts the income of which was devoted to school 
support.* 

2. By building schoolhouses as public property, to be rented 
or leased, or let rent free to a schoolmaster. It seems likely 

♦Providence, Newport, Middletown, Bristol. 



34 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

that in some instances the schoolhouse was a dwelling for the 
master, as well as a schoolhouse.* 

3. By the employment of a town schoolmaster and the 
guaranty of some part of his salary, or the part thereof necessary 
to raise his receipts from tuition from his pupils or other sources 
to a fixed minimum salary. f 

4. By grants of school sites or money to groups of inhabi- 
tants organized as school societies to maintain quasi-public 
schools.! 

The schools thus assisted and encouraged were not free 
schools, except that provision sometimes was made for free 
instruction for poor children. Responsibility for the training 
of the children of the community rested upon individuals, 
parents or families, primarily. Towns recognized an obligation 
to contribute to and encourage so desirable an institution as a 
school for the youth. As for the colony— that is, the govern- 
ment exercising legislative functions through the General Assem- 
bly — Rhode Island became a patron of education on lines 
somewhat similar to those already adopted by the towns. 
The earliest measure of an educational character permitted 
use of a room in the Colony House in Providence for library 
purposes; when the library was destroyed by fire, the owners 
were granted a lottery franchise to assist in replacing the 
library. The charter of Rhode Island College in 1764 ex- 
empted the college estate from taxation, a privilege of increasing 
value as years rolled by and the college endowment grew, and 
worth in the nineteenth century not less, it is estimated, than 
$80,000 annually. 

AN EVALUATION. 

The unfavorable estimate of Rhode Island's school history 
which has prevailed generally, arises largely from the error of 

♦Providence, Newport, Portsmouth, Middletown, Bristol. 
tNewport, Middletown, Barrington, Bristol. 
JProvidence, Newport, Warwick. 



COLONIAL SCHOOLS. 35 

studying school progress exclusively in legislation. The his- 
torians of the past who found general school laws in Massachu- 
setts and Connecticut in the middle of the seventeenth century, 
and none in Rhode Island before 1828, reached the conclusion 
that Rhode Islanders were baclavard in providing schools, 
ignoring the fact that there were 193 schoolhouses in Rhode 
Island in 1828. It is, and has been, characteristic of Rhode 
Island school history that progress and improvement precede 
legislation; that experiments have been worked out in some 
towns before the enactment of laws. Indeed, some Rhode 
Island school law has aimed to prevent retrogression from 
standards already attained without general laws. 

Following the original error arising from comparison of 
legislation, without the saving grace of studying its enforcement 
or observance, historians have invented reasons for their con- 
clusions that should differentiate the cradle of American 
d emocracy from jtsneighbors. It is positively certain that 
the Massachusetts and Connecticut ordinances did not build a 
single schoolhouse or establish a single school, and that the early 
legislation in both colonies did not provide ways and means for 
aiding schools, whereas the first Rhode Island general school 
law was an appropriation measure. 'Small's "Early New 
England Schools" demonstrates beyond a reasonable doubt 
that school beginnings in Massachusetts and Connecticut did 
not differ materially from school beginnings in Rhode Island. 
The Massachusetts law of 1647, requiring every town of 50 
families to provide a school, exempted towns with 49 families. 
It is clear, also, that provision for schools did not follow imme- 
diately the establishment of settlements in Massachusetts and 
Connecticut. 

Schoolhouses in the neighboring colonies were neither better 
nor worse than those in Rhode Island; teachers were no better 
paid for their services; the length of the school year did not 
vary greatly. There was one important difference between 



36 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

Rhode Island and her neighbors. Massachusetts and Con- 
necticut were theocratic; Rhode Island was the home of com- 
plete religious freedom. The Massachusetts law of 1642 would 
have violated the basic principle of liberty of conscience for 
which Rhode Island has always stood. The type of school 
first founded in Massachusetts and Connecticut would have 
been an anomaly in Rhode Island. 

The people of Rhode Island began, in the earliest years of 
the colony, to work out — in their own way — the problem of 
educating the youth. The unimpeachable evidence of records 
and the fair presumption of continuity amply warrant the 
conclusion that Rhode Island has not deserved a reputation 
for backwardness in education. There is much in the history 
of colonial education of which Rhode Island may well be proud. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE BEGINNINGS OF A STATE SCHOOL 
SYSTEM. 



Interest in education was revived and extended in Rhode 
Island almost immediately after the close of the Revolutionary 
War, although the establishment of a state system of free public 
schools under general laws still lay far away in the future. 
In the half-century after the war the foundations of a state 
system were laid securely in the towns. Private schools 
nourished, maintained by the patronage of those who as in- 
dividuals realized the advantages that education would secure 
for their children. This period witnessed the rise of the school 
society, wherein individuals combined and co-operated in pro- 
viding education for the children of the group. The organiza- 
tion of the school society varied in form, from the elementary, 
almost primitive combination of individuals who co-operated 
to hire or furnish a room for a school and to engage a teacher 
for a few months, to the incorporated society which built a 
schoolhouse and provided instruction regularly. In several 
towns the school district organizations under the state school 
laws recognized the existing school societies, and society school- 
houses became the homes of public schools. In towns where 
public schools had been maintained previous to the Revolu- 
tionary War, further progress was made, as a rule, after the 
w r ar. In two towns free public schools were established and 
maintained before the state made provision for the support 
of public schools. 



38 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

Between 1775 and 1800 the following books, mostly text- 
books adapted for use in schools, were published by Rhode 
Island printers: Four editions of the New England Primer, 
in 1775, 1782, 1785, and 1800; two editions of the Pennsyl- 
vania Spelling Book, in 1782 and 1789; Ross's American Latin 
Grammar, in 1780; Burr's American Latin Grammar, in 1794; 
the Universal Spelling Book, in 1784; the American Youth's 
Mathematics, in 1790; Wilkinson's "The Federal Calculator," 
in 1795; the Young Ladies' and Gentlemen's Preceptor, in 
1797. Fox's " Instructions for Right Spelling" was published 
in Rhode Island in 1737. 

THE EVOLUTION OF RESPONSIBILITY. 

Regarding the education of the child, consistently w,ith early 
Rhode Island school history, as primarily a responsibility resting 
upon the individual, parent or family, there were, until educa- 
tion became socialized and the state provided free public 
schools, several ways in which this obligation might be fulfilled : 

First, the parent, himself or herself, might become the family 
teacher, the latter exemplifying the school of the mother's 
knee, prototype of the dame school, familiar even less than a 
century ago, in which the versatile housew r ife divided her 
attention betwixt household economics and the instruction of 
the youth of the neighborhood. 

Secondly, the teacher might be a professional instructor, 
exercising his calling as an individual entrepreneur, or perhaps 
combining a vocation and an avocation, as did William Turpin, 
the innkeeper-schoolmaster of Providence. Possibilities in this 
category range from the pastor of the church, whose business 
was the saving of good souls, to the village cobbler, a mender of 
bad soles, or perhaps an itinerant tinker, who could rehabilitate 
pots, pans, kettles and other household paraphernalia, while 
he tarried in the neighborhood teaching school a few months in 
the year. The latter half of the eighteenth and the early half 



BEGINNINGS OF A STATE SYSTEM. 39 

of the nineteenth centuries witnessed the coming to New Eng- 
land of itinerant Irish schoolmasters, many of whom settled 
down and became permanent residents, leaving memories still 
cherished in connection with early American school history. 

Thirdly, co-operation is one of the most economical solutions 
of the problem of supplying a common need, and this rule 
applies to education as well as to other necessities. In some 
instances in Rhode Island co-operation functioned as a broad- 
ening of. family responsibility to embrace a larger family, such 
as the combination of the four Kenyon brothers in Richmond.* 
In other instances co-operation developed in neighborhood 
groups, such a movement producing the first schoolhouse west 
of the river in Providence.f The Society of Friends was the 
first religious organization to provide a school for its children. 
Fourthly, out of the co-operative school organization nat- 
urally developed the incorporated school society, when the 
property interest became sufficiently important to warrant an 
organization that should have a legal personality and rights 
and privileges distinct from the personal rights and privileges 
of its members. The advance from co-operation to incorpora- 
tion was merely a matter of form. The organization was still 
voluntary. 

Fifthly, voluntary co-operation tends to become, ultimately, 
involuntary co-operation. When this development is reached the 
obligation to educate the young becomes communal instead 
of individual; the obligation rests, not exclusively upon the 
parent as regards his children, but upon all citizens, whether 
parents or not, as regards all the children of the community. 
The burden rests primarily upon the taxpayer and not upon 
the parent. 

A student of purely theoretical social evolution encounters 
no serious difficulty in recognizing universal involuntary co- 
operation as the fifth term in a series the third and fourth of 

♦Infra. 
tSupra. 



40 PUBLIC .EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

which had demonstrated that voluntary co-operation was 
advantageous. These are the prime factors: 1. Public rec- 
ognition of the desirability of education with precedents from 
1640. 2. Similar precedents for public support of education. 
3. Co-operation at a highly developed stage, though still 
largely voluntary, and aiming at a purpose rhythmically con- 
sonant with the public good. 4. A public need — education for 
all — not supplied by existing agencies under private control. 
5. Democracy broadening in a new republic, experiencing in 
the nineteenth century a clear appreciation of the spirit of 
Liberty, Equality and Fraternity which had dominated the 
French Revolution more than its American prototype. 6. A 
period in which the theoretical and idealistic democracy of 
Thomas Jefferson was ripening into the practical democracy 
rough-hewn by Andrew Jackson and perfected by Abraham 
Lincoln. The evolutionist can find only one solution of this 
problem, and he can prove his solution accurate by the verdict 
of history that it actually happened. 

This chapter is, however, a pragmatic study aiming to 
present for each town and for the state, as nearly as has been 
found, a complete record of the educational activity that es- 
tablished the foundations for universal co-operation and a 
state system of public schools. Precedents before the fact are 
more impressive than sanctions after the fact. 

It is not possible to trace in any town's experience all the 
stages of the development of consciousness of society's duty and 
responsibility in supplying the means of public education; the 
movement was natural. Like Topsy, it "jest done growed" 
and the line of progress is irregular, unconventional, asymmet- 
rical, and uneven. In some towns little advancement was 
attained ; in others full florescence was reached before the state 
made its first appropriation for the support of public schools. 
In many towns only crude beginnings were made; in others 
the start was more propitious. All accomplished something. 



BEGINNINGS OF A STATE SYSTEM. 41 

The entire period was alive with educational activity, wanting, 
however, central direction and control; the movement was 
sporadic at first, but gradually it combined to produce a general 
uplift. It is surprising, indeed, when the facts are collected, 
that Rhode Island acquired a reputation for backwardness; 
it was not entirely deserved, certainly. 

When the state as a whole is viewed, variations appear 
somewhat less pronounced, and four movements may be dis- 
tinguished: First, the liberal extension of educational oppor- 
tunities and the increasing number of schools; second, the 
growth of co-operation, evidenced by the development of the 
school society; third, an unmistakable trend toward town free 
public schools; fourth, a movement for state support, to sup- 
plement the town systems. The towns were first in order. 

BARRINGTON, BRISTOL AND BURRILLVILLE. 

Barrington was divided into three school districts in 1770. 
There were two schoolhouses in the town in 1819 and three in 
1828. The buildings were owned by inhabitants and held by 
joint ownership. The schools were not town schools. The 
Barrington Library Association was incorporated in 1806. 

Bristol, in 1781, engaged Samuel Bosworth to teach a school, 
hiring a room for the purpose while the town schoolhouse 
was being made fit for occupancy. The old schoolhouse, 
which was dilapidated and needed almost constant repairs, was 
replaced by a new building in 1809, after six years of agitation 
and endeavor. The movement was undertaken in 1803, when 
a committee was authorized to solicit subscriptions. The 
building was erected finally jointly by the town, which made 
an appropriation, and by St. Alban's Lodge of Freemasons, 
which owned and occupied the upper story as a lodgeroom. 
After the sale of the schoolhouse on the Neck in 1765, there was 
no schoolhouse in that section until 1802, when Peter Church, 
William DeWolf, William Coggeshall and other inhabitants 



42 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

were granted permission to build a schoolhouse on the ten-acre 
lot on the main road to Warren, part of the Byfield donation.* 
The dimensions of this building were 22x20 feet. The town 
was divided into three school districts in 1811, but the North 
district was without a schoolhouse until 1818, when certain of 
the inhabitants erected a building at their own expense on a lot 
owned by the town. The Byfield school land was leased for a 
long period of years in 1811, and the rents were reinvested; the 
districting of the town was principally for the purpose of insur- 
ing an equitable division of the annual income. In 1828 
Bristol had three public schoolhouses, and the annual appro- 
priation for school support amounted to about $350, the money 
being derived from the income of the Byfield donation, rents, 
and licenses for entertainments. The town schools were not 
free schools. The Bristol Female Charitable Society pro- 
vided schooling for indigent girls. The state granted a lottery 
in 1797 to aid an academy in Bristol, and chartered Mount 
Hope Academy in 1806. A private school on the Lancaster plan 
was conducted in the Academy building in 1826. 

Burrillville was set off from Glocester in 1806. The early 
schoolhouses were built by proprietors, and the teachers were 
paid by the parents of their pupils. There were ten school- 
houses in Burrillville in 1819, and eleven in 1828, rated as public 
schools, although the town appropriated no money for school 
support. The Burrillville Library was incorporated in 1821, 
and the Burrillville-Lafayette Library Company in 1826. 

CHARLESTOWN, COVENTRY, CRANSTON AND 
CUMBERLAND. 

Charlestown was set off from Westerly in 1738, and from 
Charlestown Richmond was taken in 1747. In 1804 the Gen- 
eral Assembly granted a lottery to build a schoolhouse and 
meeting house in Charlestown. The earliest public school- 

*See Chapter I. 



BEGINNINGS OF A STATE SYSTEM. 43 

house in the town was that of the Narragansett Indian school, 
maintained for the members of the tribe. The town took no 
action to provide schools or schoolhouses previous to 1828. 
There were ten private schools in Charlestown in 1819, and 
about the same number in 1828. 

Coventry, as a town, made no provision for public education 
previous to 1828. Tradition places the establishment of thiee 
proprietors' schools in the town soon after the close of the 
Revolution. There were eight schoolhouses in Coventry in 
1819 and ten in 1828. The Coventry School Society was 
incorporated in 1814, and the Mill Brook School Society in 1828. 

Cranston was part of Providence until 1754. There were 
six schoolhouses and a library in Cranston in 1819, and eleven 
schoolhouses in 1828, although schools were not kept regularly 
in all cases. The town made no provision for public education. 

Cumberland School Society was chartered by the General 
Assembly in 1795, Cumberland Academy in 1800, Cumberland 
Union School Society in 1814, and Cumberland Literary 
Society in 1819. There were nine schoolhouses in the town in 
1819, and thirteen in 1828. The Cumberland schools were 
described in 1828 as well housed, well taught and kept regularly. 
Cumberland school districts were authorized in 1838 to acquire 
the proprietors' interests by purchase. 

EAST GREENWICH, EXETER, FOSTER AND 
GLOCESTER, 

East Greenwich inhabitants, in 1774, received a lottery grant, 
wherewith to build a schoolhouse; in 1780 the grant was re- 
newed, the amount of money to be raised increased, and the 
purpose designated as the building of two schoolhouses. In 
1804 still another lottery was granted by the General Assembly, 
to build a schoolhouse in East Greenwich, near Cory pond. 
Kent Academy was chartered in 1802, and opened in 1804. 



44 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

The bell from Kent County Courthouse was given to Kent 
Academy in 1806. Frenchtown Academy, to be located in the 
western section of the town, was chartered in 1803, 1806 and 
1820. As a town East Greenwich did nothing for public school 
support prior to 1828. In that year there were four school- 
houses in the town, besides Kent Academy and a private school 
in the compact village. The Charitable Society of East Green- 
wich was established in 1815 to clothe and school poor children. 

Exeter was set off from North Kingstown in 1742-3. There 
were two schoolhouses in the town in 1819 and three in 1828, in 
which winter schools were kept. 

Foster was taken from Scituate in 1781. There were eleven 
schoolhouses and a library in the town in 1819, and fifteen 
schoolhouses in 1828. 

Glocester was set off from Providence in 1730. Burrillville 
was taken from Glocester in 1806. There were twelve school- 
houses and a library in Glocester in 1819, and eleven school- 
houses, in which fifteen schools were kept, in 1828. 

HOPK1NTON, JAMESTOWN AND JOHNSTON. 

Hopkinton was taken from Westerly in 1757. In 1805 the 
General Assembly granted a lottery to build a meeting house 
and schoolhouse in Hopkinton. There were six schoolhouses in 
Hopkinton in 1819, and other schools were kept, but not regu- 
larly in all instances. In 1828 the number of schoolhouses had 
increased to nine, in three of which schools were kept through 
the year, while six were winter schools. 

Jamestown, on the Island of Conanicut, was incorporated in 
1678. The first schoolhouse of which there is positive infor- 
mation was erected on the island about 1802. There were two 
schoolhouses in 1819 and three in 1828, when the population 
was 448. 



BEGINNINGS OF A STATE SYSTEM. 45 

Johnston, the west end of Providence, was incorporated in 
1759. There were seven schools and a library in Johnston in 
1819, and four schoolhouses, in which six or seven schools were 
kept in winter and three in summer, in 1828. 

LITTLE COMPTON AND MIDDLETOWN. 

Little Compton was one of the five towns transferred to Rhode 
Island by royal decree in 1747. Of early schools in the town 
no records have been found. Seven schools were kept in Little 
Compton in 1819, and in 1824 there were eight schoolhouses, in 
which schools were kept regularly. 

Middletown had displayed more enterprise than most Rhode 
Island towns in maintaining schools under town management 
before the Revolution. Unfortunately the ordinance for 
dividing the town into school districts, adopted in 1754, trans- 
ferred control and responsibility for school maintenance to the 
districts, it being provided "that each squadron (district) shall 
have the sole power of managing their own schoolhouses and 
lands, by leasing out the same, and employing schoolmasters 
as it shall be most agreeable to them." Nevertheless the town 
provided a "well crotch and sweep to the well at the east 
schoolhouse" in 1759, and in 1776 repaired the eastern school- 
house at an expense of $48.25, which was paid out of the town 
treasury. The eastern schoolhouse was destroyed by fire in 
1786, and the town offered a reward of £30 "to any person or 
persons who will give information of the principal or accessory 
in wilfully setting fire to the east schoolhouse." The east school 
land was rented in 1787 for "six bushels of good Indian corn," 
and in 1789 it was rented for "thirteen bushels of good mer- 
chantable Indian corn, to be paid and delivered into the treas- 
ury." Probably corn was preferable, as legal-tender, to post- 
Revolutionary paper money. In 1789 the rents of the east 
school land were appropriated to the use of schooling poor 
children, and in 1790 the beneficiaries were limited to poor 



46 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

children in the east end. In 1792 it was voted that the rents 
from the " eastermost " school land "be collected and put on 
interest in order to be employed toward building a schoolhouse." 
Although the town records did not mention the specific cause, 
it seems likely that the question of responsibility for rebuilding 
the east schoolhouse aroused a controversy that has left a 
trace upon the records in the foregoing and subsequent votes 
of the town. The districting ordinance of 1754 proved to be a 
stumbling block for those who favored rebuilding at the expense 
of the town as a whole. If it remained in effect, the inhabitants 
of the east end probably must rebuild their own schoolhouse with- 
out material assistance from the other district. In May, 1789, 
the district ordinance was repealed, although it was still provided 
that "all persons who send children to the west school shall 
have the full power of chuseing a schoolmaster to keep schoole 
in said house, and all other persons who have no children to 
send shall be excluded from any vote in chuseing said schoole- 
master." The ordinance was broad enough to exclude resi- 
dents of the east end, which probably was intended, as well as 
bachelors and benedicts who had no children, from partici- 
pating in the choice of the schoolmaster for the west end. The 
next month, however, west end interest was stronger in town 
meeting, and the ordinance of 1754 was revived, only to be 
repealed again later in the year. In 1790 a committee was 
appointed to "inspect into the rights of the town to the west 
schoolehouse and land, if any they have." The committee's 
report has not been found. Another committee was appointed 
in 1807, to "see how the east and west school land stands," and 
it reported: "We have searched the proprietors' records and 
find that the east school land was granted for the benefit of the 
proprietors in that part of the town, and the west school land 
for the benefit of the proprietors in that part of the town, but 
in searching the town meeting book of records we find by the 
votes of the freemen in several town meetings, said school lands 



BEGINNINGS OF A STATE SYSTEM. • 47 

have been managed by the town in many ways." From 1819 
to 1853 district No. 1 controlled the school land in its district 
and received the income. The Supreme Court, in 1856, con- 
firmed the right of the district.* In 1810 and in 1819 land 
was granted to two companies of proprietors to erect school- 
houses. Thus there were at least three schoolhouses in Middle- 
town in 1819, although five schools were kept; in 1828 there 
were five schoolhouses in the town. Middletown claimed tax 
remission under the state law of 1800 on account of its free 
school, presumably the west end school. 

NEWPORT. 

Newport suffered more than any other Rhode Island town 
during the Revolutionary War, although Bristol was bombarded 
by the British. The British destroyed Long Wharf in Newport 
in 1779; revival of the commerce that had made Newport one 
of the most prosperous seaports on the Atlantic coast before the 
war awaited its rebuilding. In 1795 the General Assembly 
named 36 petitioners, citizens of Newport, as trustees and 
granted them a lottery to raise $25,000 toward rebuilding Long 
Wharf and for building a hotel, upon condition that all profits 
arising from the wharf and hotel should be appropriated to 
building one or more free public schools.f The lottery yielded, 
it is estimated, $12,000; the wharf was rebuilt and the work was 
completed in 1800. The hotel was not built. 

Under date of May 16, 1795, Simeon Potter of Swansea^ 
wrote to two members of the board of trustees: 

*Gould vs. Whitman, 3 R. I. 267. 

tSmall, "Early N. E. Schools," p. 210: "Newport had a lottery from which a wharf 
and hotel were to be built, the proceeds of which were to support a public school. The 
result is not known." Comment seems unnecessary. 

JSimeon Potter was born in Bristol about 1720. Of poor parentage, he went to sea as an 
humble seaman, and returned to Bristol after a career as a privateer captain, one of the 
richest men in the town and colony. From 1752 to 1777 he represented Bristol in the 
General Assembly. He commanded a boat from Bristol which joined the Gaspee party 
on June 10, 1772. He was Major General of Rhode Island troops in 1776. He claimed 
residence in Swansea after 1780, it has been said, to escape taxation in Bristol; but he 
retained his membership in St. Michael's Church in Bristol until he died in 1806. He was 
buried in Bristol. 



48 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

"Gentlemen: I saw in the Boston Centinel a scheme of a 
lottery, for the laudable intention of rebuilding Long Wharf in 
Newport, the building of a hotel, and, more especially, estab- 
lishing a free school, which has determined me to make a free 
gift of my estate on the point called Easton's Point, which came 
to me by way of mortgage for a debt due from Hays and Pollock, 
if you will accept of it in trust to support a free school forever, 
for the advantage of the poor children of every denomination, 
and to be under the same regulations as you desired the free 
school should be that you design to erect. If you, gentlemen, 
will please get a deed wrote agreeably to the intentions here 
manifested, I will sign and acknowledge the same and send it 
to you for recording. I would only mention that if the situation 
is agreeable to you, the house and garden would do for a school- 
master, and the oil house, which is large, might be fixed up for a 
schoolhouse. This as you may think proper. There is no 
person here that understands writing such a deed, or I would 
have sent it to you completely executed. 

"I am, gentlemen, with respect, Your humble servant, 

" SIMEON POTTER," 

The gift was accepted. The deed recited the terms of the 
trust thus: "Now I, the said Simeon Potter, moved by the 
regard I have for the good people of the said town of Newport, 
and by the afflictions which they have suffered in the late war, 
and wishing to promote their rise and prosperity, and the educa- 
tion of their children of the present and succeeding generations, 
do hereby, in consideration thereof, give, grant," etc. 

The Potter property stood at the corner of Washington and 
Marsh streets in Newport. The house was rented by the 
trustees and the first income was applied to repairs. The 
trustees, in 1800, tendered the use of the property "to the town 
for a schoolhouse, on condition of the town repairing the same 
and paying such rent as may be agreed upon, provided it is 
appropriated for a school, conformably to the act of the Assem- 
bly for establishing free schools, and that it be called the Potter 
school." But Newport took no action to provide free schools 
under the act of 1800. 

In August, 1814, a committee of the trustees was authorized 
to devise a plan for the commencement of a school. The com- 



BEGINNINGS OF A STATE SYSTEM. 



49 



mittee recommended renting the Potter house to a suitable 
person to keep a school for a number of boys belonging to 
families m the town who are unable to educate them, and that 
they be instructed in reading, writing and arithmetic necessary 
for ordinary business and navigation. The committee found a 
room m the house, 15x40 feet, with two fireplaces, which could 
be fitted up to accommodate 50 or 60 scholars, and that Capt 
Joseph Finch and his wife, "who occupy the chambers keeping 
a school," "will undertake to instruct 20 or 30 children in 
reading and find the necessary firewood, at $1.80 each per 
quarter." The record sanctions the conclusion that the house 
was even then in use as a private school. The committee also 
advised that Job Gibbs, a carpenter, who occupied the first 
floor and was largely in arrears for rent, be employed for making 
the necessary repairs for the accommodation of the pupils 
"on enlarging the establishment under the direction of an 
instructor in the higher branches." A committee was appointed 
to carry the plan into effect, and a school was opened October 
10, 1814, with 21 small boys as scholars. From the report of 
the school committee of May 1, 1815, it appeared that Elizabeth 
Finch, wife of Capt. Finch, was the teacher, as the committee 
found that the boys "have made greater progress with their 
learning than was anticipated, and that Mrs. Finch, with the 
assistance of her husband, had done ample justice to the pupils » 
At a meeting of the trustees in April, 1815, the committee was 
authorized to enlarge the school to accommodate 40 pupils 
The September gale of 1815 prostrated Newport and damaged 
Long Wharf. The trustees were compelled, in 1817, to reduce 
the school to 10 pupils. The schoolhouse was repaired in 1823 
and school committees were appointed from year to year. The 
trustees in 1827 employed counsel to ascertain their rights under 
the will of Constant Taber. It was found that a codicil to the 
will had revoked a legacy of 30 shares of United States Bank 
stock. Capt. Finch died in 1829, and Mrs. Finch was engaged 



50 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

to conduct a school for small children of both sexes, in lieu of 
payment of rent. In July of the same year the widow Dennis 
rented the house on the same terms, remaining until 1832, when 
the Potter school was discontinued. The Potter estate was 
sold in 1834 for $505, and the proceeds were placed in a savings 
bank. Long Wharf was leased for 100 years, in 1860, to the 
Newport and Fall River Railway Company at an annual rental 
of $1400. The trustees had in the savings bank $2293.38, 
accumulated from the Potter donation. In 1863 a new two- 
story brick schoolhouse, which cost $13,000, was built by the 
trustees and presented to the city of Newport. A second 
schoolhouse was built by the trustees at a later date, and the 
city of Newport is still frorh time to time a beneficiary of the 
trust. 

Fifty years after the destruction of the central town school- 
house, that is in 1824, interest in public education revived 
sufficiently in Newport to make the question of providing public 
schools one of the most important topics for discussion in town 
meeting. In 1825 the General Assembly, upon petition, au- 
thorized Newport to raise a tax of $800 "for the education of 
the white children of the town who are not otherwise provided 
with the means of instruction." A lottery granted for school 
support was not taken up by the people of Newport. The 
town made its first annual appropriation, under the new dis- 
pensation, in 1825. To the annual appropriations in 1825 and 
1826 were added the proceeds of the sale and rent of school 
land; and the building of a schoolhouse, "60 feet long and 36 
feet wide, of brick and stone, two stories high," was undertaken 
at a cost of $3000. Provision was also made for the accumula- 
tion of a school fund from the proceeds of sales of school land 
under earlier grants, and $1500 was added to the fund by bequest 
of Constant Taber. 

In March, 1827, the town authorized the opening of a school 
for boys in the upper story. A school on the Lancaster or 



BEGINNINGS OF A STATE SYSTEM. 51 

monitorial plan began on May 21, 1827. The school was in 
charge of a school committee, which had power to appoint 
schoolmasters and assistants, to regulate the admission and 
discharge of scholars, to provide books, stationery, etc., and 
in general to superintend and manage the school. The school 
was not an absolutely free school. It was provided: 

"In order that the benefit of the school may be extended not 
only to the most indigent of our citizens, but to those also whom 
industry and economy place above want, the following low 
rates of tuition shall be established, viz.: For the alphabet, 
spelling and writing on slate, 25 cents per quarter. Contin- 
uance of ditto, with reading and arithmetical tables, 50 cents 
per quarter. Continuance of the last, with writing on paper, 
arithmetic and definitions, $1. The preceding, with grammar, 
geography and the use of maps and globes, book-keeping, etc., 
$2^ No additional charge for fuel, books or stationery. 

"The object of the foregoing scale of prices for tuition is to 
foster and encourage the praiseworthy feeling of independence 
m those parents who wish to educate their children at their own 
expense, but whose limited means are insufficient to pay the 
customary rates. But it is at the same time expressly pro- 
vided that no child shall be excluded from the benefits of the 
school merely from inability to pay for his tuition." 

There were 337 applicants for admission to the school, 279 
pupils were admitted, and 217 were in attendance at the end of 
the first year. The school committee found that the tuition 
paid was insufficient to defray the expense of books, slates, etc., 
a consideration which should, perhaps, entitle this school to 
rank as a free school, since free schools generally did not provide 
free books or stationery for their pupils. In Providence pupils 
could be assessed for fuel until 1833, and were required to 
furnish their books and ink for writing. The Newport school 
committee praised the Lancaster system as the best available 
for a large school. The instructor received $600 a year. 

A school for girls on a similar plan was opened in the lower 
story of the schoolhouse in 1828. It is estimated that there 
were in Newport in 1828, besides the public schools and the 
Potter school, 42 private schools, which accommodated 1100 
pupils. 



52 * PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

NEW SHOREHAM AND NORTH KINGSTOWN. 

New Shoreham made no provision for public schools earlier 
than 1828. In that year there was one schoolhouse on the 
island; four schools were kept four months in winter and six 
months in summer. 

North Kingstown elected its first school committee in 1828. 
Of schoolhouses in the town earlier than 1800 no record has 
been found. The General Assembly in 1806 granted a lottery 
to build a schoolhouse at the Four Corners in North Kingstown. 
In that year a schoolhouse, 24x26 feet, was built by Thomas 
Allen, John Wightman and Thomas G. Allen at Quidnesette. 
Tradition says that it was furnished with a pulpit and desk, 
and that it was used for meeting and school purposes until 1837. 
Another schoolhouse was built in 1808 by William Reynolds, a 
factory owner ; this, according to the American, was the only 
schoolhouse in North Kingstown in 1828, but the American 
probably was in error in this instance. A third schoolhouse was 
erected near Davisville before 1810 by Ezra and Jeffrey Davis. 
The Rhode Island Register of 1819 declared that 12 schools were 
kept in North Kingstown, while the American of 1828 placed 
the number at six. No town or other records to verify either 
estimate have been found. The General Assembly chartered 
Washington Academy at Wickford in 1799. Nicholas and Ann 
Spink, and John and Hannah Franklin donated four acres of 
land for a site; Samuel Elam presented $100 cash, and the 
General Assembly, in 1803, endowed it with a lottery. The 
stockholders subscribed $2000. The academy was opened in 
1802, and had a long, though somewhat precarious existence. 
It was sometimes called Elam Academy, by which name it was 
mentioned in the American in 1828. 

NORTH PROVIDENCE AND PORTSMOUTH. 

North Providence was set off from Providence in 1765. The 
earliest school in the town of which a record has been found was 



BEGINNINGS OF A STATE SYSTEM. 53 

opened at Pawtucket in 1791 for mill children, under the 
patronage of Samuel Slater, founder of the cotton spinning 
industry in America.* Samuel Slater himself was a teacher in a 
secular Sunday School for mill operatives. What was known 
as the Red Schoolhouse was erected at Pawtucket in 1793; it 
was a proprietors' school and received pupils from both sides 
of the Blackstone river, which at that time marked the boundary 
line at Pawtucket between Rhode Island and Massachusetts. 
The Pawtucket School Society was chartered in 1795, and the 
Pawtucket Union Academy in 1801, and again in 1805. The 
academy, when built, stood on what is now Pleasant street. 
At the western end of the town, near Centredale and the Fruit 
Hill section, Nathan Angell, Olney Angell, Benjamin Whipple 
and Roger Olney built a schoolhouse on Smith street between 
1802 and 1805. The General Assembly, in 1808, granted a 
lottery for an academy in North Providence on the Smithfield 
pike. There were eight schoolhouses and two academies in 
North Providence in 1819, and seven schoolhouses, an academy 
and four other schools in Pawtucket, in all eleven schools, in 
1828. 

Portsmouth had been well supplied with schools before the 
Revolution; there is little reason to believe that schools were 
not kept regularly in the town, except in war times. There 
were seven schools in Portsmouth in 1819, and four school- 
houses, accommodating four winter and one or two summer 
schools, in 1828. 

PROVIDENCE 

Rhode Island College was the first school in Providence to 
resume its sessions after the war. Dr. Manning issued a call 
for a reopening in 1780, and the General Assembly ordered the 
Quartermaster to remove the public stores from the Brick 

*The first American-made spinning jenny was constructed in Providence in 1787- the 
first American cotton factory was started by Samuel Slater in Pawtucket in 1790 ' Eli 
Whitney invented the cotton gin in 1793. 



54 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

schoolhouse and put it in order for use by the students of the 
college, in July, 1780. But just then came the French, who 
took possession of University Hall as a hospital and barracks. 
In 1782, after the departure of the French, upon petition of the 
college, the state repaired University Hall, and the college 
reopened in October of that year. 

Providence furnishes an illustration of the development of 
voluntary co-operation into involuntary co-operation. Interest 
in schools generally revived in Providence almost immediately 
after peace was restored. There were three schoolhouses in the 
town, the Brick schoolhouse on Meeting street, owned in part 
by the town and in part by a company of proprietors, and 
Whipple Hall and the school west of the river, both proprietors' 
schools. Early in 1785 a committee appointed to draw up a 
plan for school government reported, in words which recognize 
the public need and state the logical conclusion: 

"They have endeavored to suggest some general outlines for 
the regulation of schools, as they are now supported by in- 
dividuals, but are of the opinion that no effectual method can 
be devised for the encouragement of learning and the general 
diffusion of knowledge and virtue among all classes of children 
and youth, until the town shall think proper to take a matter 
of so much importance into their own hands, and provide and 
support a sufficient number of judicious persons for that 
purpose." 

In town meeting June 29, 1785, a school committee was 
appointed "to take the government of the town schoolhouse 
undei their direction, and to appoint proper masters, and to give 
their direction for the government of the schools," with power 
also to "take charge of such other schoolhouses in town as the 
proprietors may think proper to resign into the care of the 
town, and also of such funds as may be hereafter provided by 
the town for the support of schools," and to negotiate with 
the proprietors for a surrender of their schools into the charge 
of the town school committee. The purpose of combining 
existing agencies under public control is clearly indicated. 



BEGINNINGS OF A STATE SYSTEM. 55 

Negotiations with the proprietors of Whipple Hall and of the 
upper floor of the Brick schoolhouse on Meeting street resulted 
in an agreement satisfactory to the school committee. The 
town appropriated for school support the money to be recovered 
from the United States for war damage to the Brick schoolhouse, 
the rents of the Market house cellar and stalls, and wharfage 
on the Market house lot The Rev. Enos Hitchcock, a member 
of the school committee, delivered an eloquent "Discourse on 
Education" in the First Congregational Church on November 
16, 1785, which was printed in pamphlet form by Bennett 
Wheeler and had a wide circulation.* The school committee 
endeavored zealously to improve the schools committed to its 
care. A report of a meeting of this school committee held on 
on January 16, 1786, was printed as a broadside by John 
Carter.f The committee examined and approved a "method 
of teaching the rudiments of arithmetic," and recommended it 
to the schoolmasters. The discussion of content and method 
was thorough, and the committee report might serve as an 
excellent syllabus. While the treatment of arithmetic advised 
was not modern, the report insisted upon rational methods. 
The schoolmaster was advised to "illustrate all you say by 
easy and familiar examples, taking care to make yourself per- 
fectly intelligible, not merely contenting youiself with having 
explained what you teach so that an expert mathematician 
shall be able to comprehend your meaning, but so that the 
child to whom you speak may understand you." 

President Manning's Plan. — Almost six years later, June 6, 
1791, a petition for the appointment of a sufficient number of 
schoolmasters to instruct all the children in the town at the 
public expense was referred to the school committee with direc- 
tion to report at an adjournment of the meeting to June 13. 
The committee being unable to report, a second adjournment 



*One of the pamphlets is in the Rider collection, Brown University. 
tA fac-simile is in the John Carter Brown Library, Brown University. 



56 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

was taken to August 1, 1791, when a report written by President 
Manning of Rhode Island College, chairman of the school 
committee, who had died suddenly one week before the meet- 
ing, was presented. The committee recommended the pur- 
chase of the proprietors' interests in the Brick schoolhouse and 
Whipple Hall, and the erection of two new schoolhouses, one 
on the west side of the river, and the other at the lower end 
of the east side. A master and assistants were to be provided 
for each school, as necessary, to provide for the attendance 
estimated by the committee on the basis of an enumeiation 
which placed the number of white males under 16 years of age 
in Providence in 1790 at 1256. The committee asked liberty 
to resign and recommended that the freemen choose a school 
committee annually to manage the schools. Inasmuch as the 
Society of Friends had a convenient schoolroom of their own 
and chose to educate their children under the tuition of their 
own members, the committee recommended that the town pay 
to the Society of Friends a share of the public school money 
based on the proportion which the scholars in the school of the 
Friends bore to the whole number educated out of the town's 
fund, the school committee having the right of inspection and 
advice. The report was adopted by the town meeting, except 
as to the resignation of the school committee, which was con- 
tinued in office without change The town council failed, 
however, to carry into effect the vote of the town meeting. 
Writing in 1876,* Rev. E. M. Stone attributed the failure of 
this plan to vigorous opposition to the provision for public aid 
to a sectarian or parochial school; but his conclusion seems 
scarcely warranted by the facts. The plan was endorsed in 
town meeting in 1791, and essentially the same plan was ap- 

*Stone was writing contemporaneously with a legislative investigation of the subject of 
tax exemption affecting parochial schools. One who reads his discussion of the movement 
of 1791, with full knowledge of the factors affecting public opinion in 1875-6, readily can 
understand that the reverend gentleman's opinion might be influenced and his paragraph 
emphasized by his own view of the merits of the controversy of 1S75-6. For Stone's 
comment see Stockwell's History of Public Education in Rhode Island. For a record of 
the tax exemption controversy, see Chapter VII, School Finance. 



BEGINNINGS OF A STATE SYSTEM. 57 

proved in town meeting in 1795, when it again failed to function. 
The fundamental error in the plan was the omission of pio- 
vision for an appropriation, or for a tax for school purposes, or 
some other provision for adequate support of schools. The 
votes in town meeting had the weight of resolutions addressed 
to the town council rather than ordinances. 

The Brick schoolhouse was repaired in 1794 by agreement 
with the proprietors. There were, according to Chace's map, 
five schoolhouses in the town of Providence in 1798: The 
Brick schoolhouse, on Meeting street, near the Friends' Meet- 
ing House; Whipple Hall, near the northerly end of Benefit 
street; Neighbors' school, on the southerly side of George 
street, close to what is now Magee street; Neighbors' school, 
on the west side of the river, at the corner of what are now 
Mathewson and Chapel streets; and John Dexter 's, or Sheldon's 
school, on the lower east side, near Benefit street. 

Until almost the end of the eighteenth century agitation for 
public education in Providence was largely the work of the 
clergy, the learned professions, the wealthy, and representatives 
of the rising commercial interest and of the college. Witness the 
school committee of 1785: Rev. President Manning, Rev. 
Enos Hitchcock, Rev. Joseph Snow, Rev. Thomas Fitch Oliver, 
Hon. Jabez Bowen, Esq., Dr. Thomas Truman, Nicholas Brown, 
Esq., John Innis Clarke, Esq., and Moses Brown. Of this 
number and associated with them were many men who had 
become members of the existing school societies Moses Brown 
lamented, in 1768, the apathy, indifference and opposition of 
citizens of the poorer classes, which defeated the movement for 
free schools in that year. Success ultimately crowned the 
efforts of a combination of the wealthy and educated classes 
with the more enterprising mechanics of the town. A man 
and an organization supplied the stimulus. The successful 
movement was largely created by the man; the organization 
became his accessory before the fact, and the wealthy and 
professional classes joined freely in promoting his enterprise. 



58 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

Enter John Howland. — Home from the war marched a soldier 
boy. Not yet 20 years old, he had been with Washington at 
Trenton. Ragged, but probably not unkempt — his vocation 
forbade that; almost barefooted, weary and hungry, he trudged 
along over the country roads from New York, through Con- 
necticut; for the Continental Congress was in dire straits for 
money and could not furnish transportation for soldiers dis- 
charged from the service. His narrative of his journey home 
arouses patriotism, makes the throat gulp, grips the heart and 
sends thrills of emotion through every muscle and fibre. Lex- 
ington, Bunker Hill, Trenton, Saratoga and Yorktown, brilliant 
as they were, yield place to Valley Forge in glory. The sac- 
rifices of the American patriots are more inspiring than their 
military successes. 

The soldier boy was John Howland, a barber. Born in 
Newport in 1757, he was apprenticed to a hair-dresser in Provi- 
dence when 13 years of age. He joined the Continental army 
when 18. His shop in Providence became, after the war, a 
resort for the leading townsmen; but he retained always his 
associations with the mechanics and more humble tradesmen. 
He rose to be Town Treasurer, member of the school commit- 
tee for a generation, President of the Rhode Island Historical 
Society, President and Treasurer of the Providence Institution 
for Savings. He led the movement which established free 
public schools in Providence, and he lived to see the system 
spread throughout the state. This was the man. 

The organization was the Providence Association of Me- 
chanics and Manufacturers, founded February 27, 1789, "for 
the promotion of home manufactures, the cementing of the 
mechanic industry and for raising a fund to support the dis- 
tressed." John Howland became an active member of the 
association and an earnest advocate of free schools. He urged 
upon the association the importance of public education as a 
means of improving their condition; he was a frequent con- 



BEGINNINGS OF A STATE SYSTEM. 59 

tributor to the public press as well, always advocating schools 
free for everybody. In 1798 he was appointed a member of a 
committee of the association to "inquire into the most desirable 
method for the establishment of free schools." He wrote for the 
association a petition for free schools, which was presented to 
the General Assembly in 1799. He drafted the resolutions 
through which the town of Providence, in an advisory referen- 
dum, instructed its representatives in the General Assembly to 
support the petition. He rallied influential members of the 
General Assembly to his cause, and secured the enactment of a 
state fiee school law in 1800. 

Providence Acts. — Thefieemen of Providence, in town meet- 
ing, on April 16, 1800, appointed James Burrill, Jr., John Corlis, 
Richard Jackson, Jr., John Carlile, Joel Metcalf, William 
Richmond and John Howland a committee to draw up and 
report a plan for carrying the act of 1800 into effect. The com- 
mittee reported the four-schoolhouse plan, familiar to the town 
of Providence since 1767 — Whipple Hall and the Brick school- 
house to be purchased, and two new schoolhouses to be built, 
one on the west side of the river, and the other on the lower 
east side. The committee also advised the appointment of four 
schoolmasters, at an annual salary of $500 each, and so many 
assistants as should be found necessary; that the town be one 
district for school management, and that a tax of $4000 be 
imposed, to be appropriated exclusively to the erection and 
support of free schools. An attempt to defeat the plan by 
presenting an amendment raising the amount of the tax to 
$6000, was frustrated by Howland's acceptance of the amend- 
ment and the speedy taking of a vote Otherwise than that the 
amount of the appropriation was increased, the plan was 
adopted as presented, and the town council prepared to carry 
it into execution in compliance with the act of the General 
Assembly. 

Two new schoolhouses, on what are now Transit street and 
Claverick street, were ordered built by ordinance of May 15, 



60 PUBLIC EDCUATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

1800, "like the new schoolhouse on George street." The 
dimensions were 50x30 feet, two stories high, but only the lower 
story was to be finished. Sixty double desks for each school- 
house weie ordered. Subsequently it was voted to construct 
the schoolhouses of brick, at a cost of $2097 each. A fifth 
schoolhouse, of stone, one story high, was elected in 1819, at 
Summer and Pond streets. 

The town council called the town school committee into 
conference October 13, 1800, "for the purpose of advising and 
consulting with the council relative to said public schools." 
A sub-committee, consisting of Rev. Enos Hitchcock, President 
Maxcy of Rhode Island College, Joseph Jenckes and John 
Howland, was appointed to draft rules and zegulations for the 
discipline and government of the schools, but this work fell 
ultimately to John Howland. 

The regulations provided for keeping school all the year 
around, six houis a day from October to April, and six and one- 
half hours a day from April to October. Scholars were " excused 
from attending on Saturdays, on Christmas Day, on the Fourth 
of July, on public fasts and thanksgivings, on Tuesday, Wed- 
nesday and Thursday of Commencement week, on the day 
succeeding each quarterly visitation, on the last Monday in 
April, and on the regimental training day in October." The 
principal part of the instruction was to "consist in teaching 
spelling, accenting and reading in both prose and verse with 
propriety and accuracy, and a general knowledge of English 
grammar and composition; also in writing a good hand accord- 
ing to the most approved rules, and arithmetic through all the 
previous rules, and vulgar and decimal fractions, including tret 
and tare, fellowship, exchange, interest, etc." The scholars 
were to be graded, but boys and girls were not to be heard in the 
same class. The town was districted, but only for the purpose 
of determining the school that children in various parts of the 
town should attend. 



BEGINNINGS OF A STATE SYSTEM. 61 

Additional rules and regulations, adopted October 24, 1800, 
display an enlightenment in matters of school discipline re- 
markable for the period. These rules "recommended to the 
schoolmasters that, as far as practicable, they exclude corporal 
punishment from the schools, and in particular that they never 
inflict it on females; that they inculcate upon the scholars the 
propriety of good behavior during their absence from school; 
that they consider themselves in the place of parents to the 
children under their care, and endeavor to convince them by 
their treatment, that they feel a parental affection for them; 
that they never make dismissal from school at an earlier hour 
than usual a reward for attention or diligence, but endeavor to 
lead the children to consider being at school a privilege, and 
dismissal from it as a punishment; that they never authorize 
one scholar to inflict any corporal punishment on another ;* 
that they endeavor to impress the minds of their pupils with 
a sense of the being and providence of God, and the obligation 
they are under to love and reverence Him, their duty to their 
parents and masters, the beauty and excellence of truth, justice 
and mutual love, tenderness to brute creatures, the happy 
tendency of self-government and obedience to the dictates of 
reason and religion, the observance of the Sabbath as a sacred 
institution; the duty which they owe to their country, and the 
necessity of strict obedience to its laws; and that they caution 
them against the prevailing vices." 

Free Schools Opened.— The schools were opened October 27, 
1800, with 988 pupils, 180 at Whipple Hall, 230 at the Brick 
schoolhouse, 240 at the Transit street school, and 338 at Clav- 
erick street. After November 1, 1800, five ushers, at $200 per 
year, were appointed, two for the west side school, and one each 
for the other schools. The salaries of ushers were raised to $250 
each in 1818. On March 27, 1801, Henrietta Downer and her 



*A practice of the period. 



62 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

sister were permitted to improve the upper story of the Transit 
street schoolhouse for a school for small children, "provided 
that they are at the expense of the glass that may be broken in 
consequence thereof." Lucilla Downer received permission to 
keep a summer school in the same building in 1804, on the same 
condition. 

Ink was ordered supplied at the expense of the town in 1800, 
but in 1803 the order was countermanded, and thereafter 
scholars must provide their own ink, or pay the master for it 
if supplied in school. In February, 1804, the town council 
which was the body actually in control of the schools, the school 
committee having merely visitorial and advisory powers, voted : 
"Whereas many inconveniences arise in the public schools by 
reason that many of the scholars attend therein without having 
the necessary books: Decreed, therefore, that the several 
masters receive no scholars into the same unless they are 
severally furnished with such books as are studied in the several 
classes to which such scholar belongs; and furthermore, that 
all such scholars whose parents or guardians may not be able to 
furnish them with the necessary books as aforesaid, the parents 
or guardians of such children are requested to report the same 
to this council, and the kind and number of books wanted." 
The clerk of the council was ordered, on February 22, 1804, to 
purchase "half a dozen of Testaments, half a dozen English 
readers and half a dozen Alden's Spelling Books, 1st part, for 
the use of such scholars at the public schools whose parents or 
guardians are not sufficiently able to provide their children with 
the same." In 1818 John Dexter, schoolmaster, was authorized 
to procure books for his indigent scholars. The textbook 
question was troublesome and continued to be so; the council 
dealt with it only as occasion required. Scholars were taxed 
for fuel, the task of collecting this assessment proving irksome 
for schoolmasters. On February 28, 1804, the scholars in the 
west side schoolhouse, where two schools were kept, were 



BEGINNINGS OF A STATE SYSTEM. 63 

ordered taxed "for wood consumed in the same and for re- 
placing of all windows that may be broken." The council 
found it inexpedient to attempt to divide the cost of fuel be- 
twixt the two schoolrooms, or to investigate and determine 
responsibility for every pane of glass broken. Such were the 
taxes assessed on scholars in free schools; only tuition was 
free. 

The town council continued to be the controlling adminis- 
trative body until 1827. No existing record has been found of a 
meeting of the school committee as a distinct body earlier than 
October 14, 1813, when sub-committees in charge of the several 
schools, and a committee on rules and regulations were ap- 
pointed. The quarterly visitation required by the rules and 
regulations of 1800 was made by the town council and school 
committee jointly. In October, 1816, the town council and 
school committee voted to place the schools in the interim 
between quarterly visitations under the supervision of clergy- 
men, one being named for each school building. This was the 
beginning of professional supervision in Providence; it de- 
veloped in 1839, into the appointment of the first superintendent 
of schools in America. The inhabitants of the west side district 
having protested, in 1821, against the appointment of a school- 
master, the town council resolved that the school committee's 
participation in the appointment was illegal, and thereupon 
itself chose another schoolmaster. The incident was significant, 
as it clearly indicated the relations of school committee and 
council, and the custodian of the power to control. The free- 
men in 1827 surrendered to the council the right to elect the 
school committee, and the council elected a committee of 36 
members, headed by President Wayland of Brown University. 
This committee immediately assumed actual control of the 
schools. The long-standing controversy between council and 
school committee opened at a later date; the details of the 
struggle are told in the chapter on "School Administration." 



64 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

"A committee for the purpose of examining into the qualifi- 
cations of candidates for preceptorships of the public schools" 
was appointed by the town council in April, 1813. The privi- 
lege of selecting ushers, sometimes exercised by the school- 
masters, was curtailed in 1815 by a resolution "that in future 
no person be employed as usher in any of the public schools in 
this town except they have undergone a previous examination 
of the sub-committee of said respective school, and such com- 
mittee's approbation obtained; and that in future no person 
shall presume to act as an usher in any of the public schools in 
this town without first having been presented by the perceptor 
and appointed by this council, and that no person acting as 
usher in any of the public schools, without being so presented 
and appointed, shall be entitled to pay for his services." Thus 
the council assumed the appointive power and the power to 
determine qualifications. 

In 1819 the council received and ordered a hearing on a 
petition praying for the dismissal of the master of the west side 
school. The petitioners were "willing to allow" that "the 
preceptor is a gentleman of strict and upright moral principles, 
and that he labors in the duties of his station with the best of 
motives; yet they are sorry to say the success of his labors has 
not been commensurate with the wishes and reasonable ex- 
pectations of the parents and guardians of his scholars." The 
alleged failure to succeed, in the opinion of the petitioners, was 
caused by, "First, a deficiency in literary attainments; and, 
second, a deficiency of wholesome and vigorous government." 
The master was, in the opinion of the petitioners, "and (what 
is of itself ruinous to the school), in the opinion of the older 
scholars, very ignorant of geography, giammar and arithme- 
tick." Curiously enough, this was the same schoolmaster who 
in 1820 reported that he had found no current textbook in 
grammar satisfactory, and that he had distributed to his pupils 
a grammar of his own composition. The petitioners also com- 



BEGINNINGS OF A STATE SYSTEM. 65 

plained that "the government of the school is deficient. . . 
The government of a numerous school is a task of difficulty. 
It should be maintained by a systematick and steady per- 
severance, which will render severe examples unnecessary." 
Friends of the schoolmaster presented a counter-petition pray- 
ing for his retention, and the council probably decided to allow 
it, though there is no record of a vote. A second petition by 
the opponents of the schoolmaster was presented to the council 
January 27, 1820, which then and there voted "that the peti- 
tioners have liberty to withdraw the said petitions." Still 
another complaint against the same master was dismissed in 
1821, but the master then gave notice of his resignation. The 
council harkened to the demands of the inhabitants of qne of 
the districts in the instance already related as occurring in 1821, 
when an appointment by the council and school committee 
jointly was revoked. 

The textbooks adopted for the schools in 1800 were Alden's 
Spelling Book, first and second parts; the Young Ladies' 
Accidence, a grammar, by Caleb Bingham; the American 
Preceptor, Morse's Geography Abridged, the Holy Bible, and 
an arithmetic to be agreed upon by the masters. Daboll's 
Arithmetic was in general use in 1820. A committee on rules 
and regulations, in 1820, requested schoolmasters to report 
their methods of conducting schools, school programmes, text- 
books used, and suggestions for improving the schools. The 
masters' reports showed a variation in curricula, school pro- 
grammes and even in textbooks. One master recommended 
uniform textbooks; one, that all pupils be required to have 
books; one, that the fuel tax be abolished. The emphasis 
placed upon reading, writing, arithmetic and spelling appeared 
in every report so clearly that there is no mistaking the principal 
aim of the early public schools. The committee selected a list 
of textbooks to be used, as follows: Alden's Spelling Book 
first and second parts; New Testament, American Preceptor' 



66 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

Murray's gequel to the English Reader, Murray's Abridge- 
ment of English Grammar and Daboll's Arithmetic. As a 
standard for pronunciation John Walker's Critical Pronouncing 
Dictionary was adopted. The teaching of composition was 
excluded, but punctuation and the " latest letters" were added 
to the uniform curriculum. Geography was dropped, but was 
restored in 1822. The committee condemned the introduction 
of new studies, thus: "The committee are convinced that 
much evil has resulted to the schools from the introduction of 
too many branches of instruction, but more particularly those 
which are termed the higher branches. These can be taught 
effectually only by means of a well-digested and an increased 
expensive system of instruction, requiring a more constant and 
exclusive attention of preceptor and scholar than is consistent 
with the original designs of our public schools." There was 
sound common sense in the committee's comment, so far as it 
was a criticism of the prevailing system of instruction. No 
schoolmaster could do justice to an extended curriculum, or 
even to a very limited curriculum, while the number of pupils 
under his charge averaged close to 100, allowing one master and 
one usher for 200 pupils. That was the "original design" and 
the surviving, prevailing notion of the public school of the 
period. President Francis Way land, as chairman of the school 
committee of 1828, recommended introduction of the monitorial 
system as the most practicable method of instructing classes 
which must continue to number from 100 to 150 pupils. But 
the time was to come when the people would demand and 
support a better type of school, in which there would be ample 
opportunity for instruction in the higher branches. In justice 
to President Wayland it should be noted here that he recom- 
mended the establishment of a high school in Providence in 1828. 
The first public school under a woman teacher was opened in 
April, 1827, on the west side, with Miss Carr in charge. It was 
for children from five to eight years of age. Previously six 



BEGINNINGS OF A STATE SYSTEM. 



67 



years had been the minimum age for admission to the public 
schools. 

Recapitulation. — Recapitulating briefly, the free public schools 
in Providence were housed in substantial buildings owned by 
the town, which also furnished free instruction. The total cost 
for free instruction (after 1818) was $3750 annually, for five 
schoolmasters and five ushers. Scholars were taxed for fuel 
and ink, and must furnish their own books and supplies, except 
when unable to do so; the town was parsimonious in providing 
free textbooks for poor children. Schools were kept the year 
around, five days a week, six hours a day Teachers were 
handicapped by large classes; the monitorial system was not in 
vogue. Instruction as a rule was confined to reading, writing, 
spelling, arithmetic and grammar. The schools were admin- 
istered by the town council. 

Wanting standards and accurate measurements, it is im- 
possible to estimate the efficiency of the free public schools of 
Providence in the first quarter-centmy. A fact that indicates 
a popular estimate unfavorable to the schools was the absence 
of growth in attendance commensurate with the increase in 
population. Three attendance reports are condensed in the 
following table : 





1800. 


Jan. 27, 1820. 


Oct. 25, 1820. 




Total. 


Girls. 


Boys. 


Total. 


Girls. 


Boys. 


Total. 


First District 


180 
230 
240 
338 


80 
102 

60 

62 

88 


80 
117 
112 

104 

128 


160 
219 
172 
166 
216 


62 
69 

36 

82 
60 


59 121 


Second District 


97 ififi 


Third District 


108 
111 

76 


144 


P'ourth District 


193 


Fifth District 


136 








Totals 


988 


392 


541 


933 


309 


451 


760 



The table shows a better attendance record in winter than in 
summer, the dates being quarterly visitation days at the end of 



68 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

quarters. Boys exceeded girls from almost 40 to 50 per cent. 
The average attendance for the whole year was 830 in 1819, 
846 in 1820, 796 in 1821, 845 in 1822, 812 in 1823, 852 in 1824, 
£06 in 1825, 744 in 1826, 886 in 1827, 1000 in 1828. The popu- 
lation of Providence was 7614 in 180O, 10,071 in 1810, 11,767 in 
1820, 16,836 in 1830. The gain in average attendance in 1828 
was due to a reorganization of the school system undertaken 
in that year. 

Besides the public schools, there were six academies and 80 
or 90 private schools in Providence in 1828. The amount paid 
for tuition in private schools was estimated at $15,000, or four 
times the town's annual expenditure for teachers' salaries. 

RICHMOND, SCITUATE AND SMITHFIELD. 

Richmond was incorporated in 1747. No schoolhouse is 
known to have been built in Richmond earlier than 1806. In 
that year Caleb Barber erected a stone building, which was 
called Barber's Academy, and Amos Lillibridge, George Perry, 
David Kenyon and Sprague Kenyon built another schoolhouse. 
The latter was destroyed by fire in 1825. Other schoolhouses 
were built as follows: About 1810, by Judge William James; 
in 1812, Clark's schoolhouse, near Stanton's Corners, and the 
Kenyon schoolhouse, built by Samuel, Silas, Benedict and 
Cory Kenyon; in 1826, the Bell schoolhouse. In these houses 
schools were kept from year to year. The town did nothing to 
aid public education. The General Assembly in 1825 granted a 
lottery to build a schoolhouse in Richmond. There were three 
schoolhouses in Richmond in 1819, and other schools were kept 
in other buildings in the town. 

Scituate was set off from Providence in 1730; Foster was 
taken from Scituate in 1781. The Union Schoolhouse Com- 
pany of Scituate was chartered in 1808; Scituate and Foster 
Academy in 1817. There were seven schoolhouses and two 
libraries in Scituate in 1819, and ten schoolhouses in 1828. 



BEGINNINGS OF A STATE SYSTEM. 69 

Smithfield, as incorporated in 1730, comprised the territory 
now included in Smithfield, North Smithfield, Lincoln, Central 
Falls and western Woonsocket. Tradition relates the building 
of schoolhouses at Greenville, in the Angell district, at Allendale 
and Stillwater earlier than 1776, but no records to verify the 
dates assigned have been found. Other schoolhouses were built, 
in the Dexter district, in 1816; by Philip Allen, in 1820; by S. A. 
Nightingale, in 1820. The last-mentioned schoolhouse was 
rebuilt in 1827. Smithfield was settled by Friends, who estab- 
lished a free school for children of their own denomination in 
1777. This was the migratory school mentioned in Chapter I. 
Smithfield was one of the few towns in Rhode Island which 
undertook to provide free schools under the state law of 1800.* 
In 1799 Philip Mowry, William Buffum, Joel Aldrich, Elisha 
Aldrich, Duty Winsor, Edward Medbury and John Jenckes, 3d, 
were appointed a committee to examine and report on the free 
school act, then pending before the General Assembly. The 
general opinion in Smithfield at that time was hostile to the act, 
because it was believed to be better suited to the coast and 
compact towns than to rural towns like Smithfield. Neverthe- 
less, the committee report was favorable, and in 1800 and 1801 
Smithfield appropriated $1000 each year for the support of free 
schools. Again in 1802 an appropriation was made, but at a 
special town meeting in September, 1802, the vote was re- 
scinded, as it is chronicled, by votes of the backwoodsmen. 
Twenty-four district schools had shared in the distribution of 
the appropriations. Smithfield School Society was chartered 
in 1808, and Woonsocket Public School in 1810. The Smith- 
field Female School Society for some years about 1820 main- 
tained a free school for poor children; in 1819 this school had 
47 pupils. The members of the society contributed 50 cents 
apiece a year for support of the school, which was kept only in 

♦The statement in the author's "School Law of R. I.," 1914, p. 9, that Providence was 
the only town that complied with the act of 1800, needs correction. 



70 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

the summer months. Of academies Smithfield had three in 
early times. From some time subsequent to his marriage, in 
1773, for 20 years Elisha Thornton kept an academy at Slaters- 
ville. In 1808 the General Assembly chartered Smithfield 
Academy Society, and in 1810 granted it a lottery. The 
academy continued until 1853. Greene Academy in Smithfield 
was chartered in 1812, with a lottery. The schoolhouse was 
surrendered to the district in 1843, and the academy became a 
district school. Twenty schools were kept in Smithfield in 
1819. In 1828 the townspeople supported .two academies and 
19 schools; there were then 13 schoolhouses in Smithfield. 

SOUTH KINGSTOWN, TIVERTON AND WARREN. 

South Kingstown was incorporated in 1722. Little is known 
of early schools in the town, which occupied a rich farming 
country, dotted with scattered plantations. In 1801 the Gen- 
eral Assembly granted a lottery to build an academy in South 
Kingstown. Samuel Sewall of Boston, in 1695, conveyed 50 
acres of land at Pettaquamscutt in special trust "for the pro- 
curing, settling and supporting and maintaining a learned, 
sober and orthodox person, from time to time and at all times 
forever hereafter, to instruct the children and youth as well of 
English there settled, or to be settled, as Indians, the aboriginal 
natives of the place, to read and write the English language and 
the rules of grammar." In 1781 a schoolhouse was built on 
Tower Hill, pursuant to the grant, and in 1819 the academy 
was removed to Kingston. The General Assembly, in 1823, 
incorporated the academy as Pettaquamscutt Academy, but 
the name was changed to Kingston Academy in 1826. The 
academy lost control of the Sewall foundation in 1840; it 
survived, through a somewhat precarious existence, until 1863. 
Four schools were kept in South Kingstown in 1819; in 1828 
there were, besides the academy, seven schoolhouses, in which 
schools were kept winter and summer. 



BEGINNINGS OF A STATE SYSTEM. 71 

Tiverton was one of the five towns transferred to Rhode 
Island in 1747. The town appointed a committee in 1799 to 
consider the proposed free school act, but no action was taken 
to carry the act into effect. There were 10 schoolhouses in 
Tiverton in 1828, in which schools were kept regularly, and a 
few other small schools 

Warren was part of Swansea, Massachusetts, until 1747, and 
included Barrington until 1770. Of early schools in what 
is now Warren, no record has been found. The Liberal School 
Society of Warren was incorporated in 1791. The General 
Assembly in 1803 granted a lottery to aid Warren Academy. 
The town had one schoolhouse and the academy in 1819. The 
Warren Female Charitable Society furnished relief for the poor 
and instruction for poor childien. Warren had three quasi- 
public schools, one private school and an academy in 1828. 

WARWICK, WESTERLY AND WEST GREENWICH. 

Warwick citizens obtained three charters for school societies 
in the ten years from 1794 to 1804. These were the Warwick 
North School Society, incorporated in 1794; the Warwick 
West School Society, 1803, and the Warwick Central School 
Society, 1804. A schoolhouse was built in 1798 one mile east 
from what is now Crompton on land given by Judge Stephen 
Arnold; this schoolhouse was removed in 1828 across the road 
to land owned by Waterman Clapp. It housed a tuition school, 
which served the village of Crompton and the surrounding 
country. The first teacher was James Pollard, an Englishman. 
The school was continued for a few years after 1828, and the 
house was then altered into a dwelling. It was blown down 
about 1865. Other schools were kept in rooms at various 
places in Crompton after 1810, but there was no other building 
in Crompton devoted exclusively to school purposes until 1845. 
A schoolhouse was built at Centreville in 1803, though schools 
had been kept in the village previously. This was the school- 



72 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

house of the Warwick West School Society. Early teachers 
were Joseph B. Pettis, Samuel Greene, Sabin Lewis and Oliver 
Johnson. Miss Amey Gorton taught school in Phenix as early 
as 1818, but no school building was constructed there earlier 
than 1827, when the Lippitt and Phenix Sabbath School Society 
was chartered and built a schoolhouse. Schools were kept in a 
store in Lippitt some time previous. The Phenix schoolhouse 
was sold to the school district in 1847. All these schools and 
schoolhouses were in the western section of Warwick, in or close 
to the mill villages along the banks of the Pawtuxet river. The 
General Assembly, in 1823, granted a lottery to inhabitants of 
Old Warwick to erect houses of worship and for the education 
of youth. There were seven schoolhouses in Warwick in 1828; 
ten winter schools were kept by men, and six summer schools 
by women. 

Westerly school history earlier than 1828 is largely a matter 
of tradition. Some time about 1800 what was known as the 
Red schoolhouse was erected, though there are stories of school- 
masters, particularly a Mr. Slattery, at an earlier period. 
Pawcatuck Academy was chartered in 1800, and Union Academy 
in 1816. In 1828, besides the two academies, Westerly had 
six schoolhouses, in which schools were kept regularly the year 
around. 

West Greenwich had two schoolhouses in 1828. Both had 
been built by subscription. Eleven schools were kept three 
months in the winter, and three of the eleven nearly the year 
around. 

TWO SURVEYS. 

The General Assembly, in 1821, appointed a committee to 
inquire into the state of education in the several towns of the 
state, with instructions to report at the October session The 
committee did not report. Two attempts to collect school 
statistics for the state, systematically, were made before 1830, 



BEGINNINGS OF A STATE SYSTEM. 73 

one in 1819 by the Rhode Island Register, and the other in 
1828 by the Rhode Island American and Gazette. Informa- 
tion for the statistics of 1819 was obtained by inquiries directed 
to the town clerks; several failed to make returns, and the list 
of towns was, therefore, incomplete. The second estimate was 
based upon " statements gathered from the Representatives of 
the towns named,* the general correctness of which may be 
relied upon, though the statement is not as full as could be 
wished," according to the American and Gazette. The news- 
paper subsequently corrected its first statement with reference 
to Scituate 

The information collected by the Register and by the Ameri- 
can and Gazette was not presented in tabular form. In the 
Register the school statistics for each town reporting were 
printed in a paragraph following a directory of the town's 
officers. The American and Gazette devoted a paragraph to 
each town, including with school statistics the town's popula- 
tion according to the census of 1820. Both surveys are pre- 
sented here, condensed in the form of a table. The census 
figures for 1820 are placed with the statistics for 1819, and the 
census figures for 1830 have been added for purposes of com- 
parison, as more nearly representing conditions in 1828 than 
the older census figures. The blanks under 1819 indicate that 
no information was obtained by the Register rather than that 
there were no schools. In both , surveys figures that were 
obviously incorrect have been corrected, but the departures from 
the original figures, and figures supplied from other sources for 
the survey of 1819, are indicated by bold type. Under 1820, 
whole-year schools are carried exclusively in* that column; that 
is to say, a whole-year school is not listed also as a summer 
and as a winter school. 

The table, which appears upon page 75, shows the number 
of schools kept and academies in the several towns in 1819, and 

*Presumably attending the General Assembly. 



74 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

the population in 1820; the number of schoolhouses, whole- 
year schools, winter schools, summer schools, the total number 
of schools and the number of academies in each town in 1828, 
and the population in 1830. The figures for 1819, with few 
exceptions, are from the Rhode Island Register; those for 1828 
are from the American and Gazette. 

Unfortunately the figures in the two surveys are not based 
upon exactly similar sources of information, and only the most 
general comparisons are warranted. These facts stand out 
clearly, however : 

No town reporting in 1819 was without schools. 

No Rhode Island town was without schools in 1828. 

There were 193 schoolhouses in the state in 1828. 

The number of schools kept in 1828, 294, exceeded the number 
kept in 1819 by 100, a gain of more than 50 per cent. Popu- 
lation in approximately the same period increased only 16 per 
cent. 

Education was a " lively experiment" in Rhode Island. 



BEGINNINGS OF A STATE SYSTEM. 75 

RHODE ISLAND SCHOOL STATISTICS, 1819 AND 1828. 



Barrington 

Bristol 

Burrillville . . : . . . 
Charlestown. . . . 

Coventry 

Cranston 

Cumberland 

East Greenwich. . 

Exeter 

2 Foster 

Glocester 

Hopkinton 

Jamestown 

Johnston 

2 Little Compton . 

2 Middletown 5 

3 Newport .... 

New Shoreham . . . 

4 North Kingstown . . i 12 
5 North Providence . 

Portsmouth 

6 Providence 14 

5 Richmond 3 

Scituate 

Smithfield 20 

South Kingstown . . 4 

Tiverton 



2 
11 
12 

6 
2-3 

7 



Warren 

Warwick 

Westerly 

West Greenwich . 



634 
3,197 
2,164 
1,160 
3,139 
2,227 
2,653 
1,519 
2,581 
2,900 
2,504 
1,821 
448 
1,542 
1,580 
949 
7,391 
955 
3,007 
2,420 
1,645 
11,767 
1,423 
2,834 
4,678 
3,723 
2,875 
1,806 
3,643 
1,972 
1,927 



7 Totals | 192 13 83.059 193 167 9S 19 294 16 97,210 



3 

3 

11 

1 

10 

11 

13 

5 

3 

15 

11 

9 

3 

5 

8 

5 

2 

1 

1 

7 

4 

5 

2 

10 

1! 

7 

10 

4 

5 

6 

2 



Schools, 1S28. 



1 


16 
13 



';; 

3 
1 


8 
5 
2 
4 
3 
11 
4 
8 
2 



o 
o 
o 
:; 

"61 



1 1 








3 
12 
12 

9 
21 
16 
13 
10 

3 
15 
15 

9 

3 

9 

8 

5 

2 

4 
6 
11 
4 
8 
2 

10 
17 

7 

10 
17 
Ki 
6 
11 



612 
3.034 
2,196 
1,284 
3,851 
2,652 
3,657 
1,591 
1,383 
2,672 
2,521 
1,777 

415 
2,115 
1,378 

915 
8,010 
1,185 
3,036 
3,503 
1,727 
16,836 
1,363 
3,993 
6,857 
3,663 
2,905 
1,800 
5,529 
1,915 
1,817 



1 — The sixteen schools kept in Cranston in 1828 were not kept regularly. 

'—Whole-year schools in Foster, Little Compton, Middletown and Portsmouth were 
not kept regularly in summer. 

3 — The Newport report covers only public schools. The American omitted the Potter 
school. 

4 — The report for North Kingstown, 1828, probably is wrong. 

■ — Not full time schools. 

"—Only public schools and academies are listed in 182S. The estimate of 9 private 
schools in 1819 is too small; it included probably only well-organized schools occupying 
buildings of their own. In 1821 there were 44 schools in Providence kept by women. In 
1828 there were 80 or 90 private schools in Providence. The American estimated .$15,000 
as the amount paid for private tuition. 

'—The totals for 1828 include 10 Scituate schools not classified. 



76 PUBLLC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

Commenting on its survey, the American and Gazette of 
January 18, 1828, said: "We refer to an article on the outer 
page showing the present state of education in Rhode Island. 
Probably there are some errors in it, though great pains have 
been taken in making it as accurate as possible. For .instance, 
we are informed that there are ten, instead of five, schoolhouses in 
the town of Scituate. Should there be any other similar errors 
we should be much obliged to the Representatives, or anyone 
who would point them out. A statement like this is worth pre- 
serving, and would be a curious document if published 20 years 
hence, when we shall have free schools in every district in the 
state. We have another reason for publishing this statement — 
to show our sister states that there is by no means an indiffer- 
ence to the subject of education in this state. The greatest 
deficit is the want of a regular, well-digested system, an exten- 
sion of the present means of education, and an equalization of 
its burdens." The information is even more impressive nearly 
90 years after it was first printed than after the lapse of only 
a generation. It demonstrates beyond a doubt that Rhode 
Island was not indifferent to education in 1828. The survey 
for 1819 shows that the progress recorded in 1828 was not a 
sudden growth. 

Providence and Newport had established free public schools 
before 1828. Bristol supported public schools by an annual 
appropriation of money derived in part from the income of 
school property held in trust, and in part from taxes levied in 
the form of license fees. In Portsmouth and Middletown 
school buildings occupied town land, and schools were supported 
in part from the income of town land. Smithfield had main- 
tained free schools for a brief period. Education was not 
entirely a private concern in other towns. Almost every town 
in the state had two or more schoolhouses erected by companies 
of proprietors and supported by subscription and tuition. 
These schools scarcely could be, and were not, generally, classed 



BEGINNINGS OF A STATE SYSTEM. 77 

as private schools. For the most part they were community 
schools, in the sense that the inhabitants of a village or district 
co-operated to supply a common school for their children. 

The great movement for exclusively public support of schools, 
for equalization of the burden of school support — the movement 
that finally placed the burden upon taxable wealth, assessed 
whether the taxpayer had children or not, or whether his 
children attended public or private schools — in short the move- 
ment that made education a public instead of a private under- 
taking and concern, was well underway in 1828. In that year 
the state became an active participant in the movement for 
public support of education. 

THE STATE AND EDUCATION. 

Previous to 1800 the state's assistance to education was con- 
fined to exempting school property from taxation, to granting 
charters of incorporation for institutions of learning and to 
granting lotteries to assist in building 01 maintenance. The 
Providence Association of Mechanics and Manufacturers, in 
1799, presented its petition to the General Assembly, asking 
for the establishment by law of free schools throughout the 
commonwealth. The petition, drawn, as already related, by 
John Howland, declared that for want of public attention and 
encouragement in providing schools an essential part of the 
social duty of the state had been neglected — thus reaching the 
most liberal modern conception of the state 's relation to educa- 
tion. Let John Howland speak for himself: 

A Petition for Free Schools. — "To the Honorable General 
Assembly of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Planta- 
tions, to be holden at Greenwich, on the last Monday of Feb- 
ruaiy, A. D. 1799: 

"The Memorial and Petition of the Providence Association 
of Mechanics and Manufacturers respectfully presents — 

"That the means of education which are enjoyed in this state 
are very inadequate to a purpose so highly important. 



78 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

"That numbers of the rising generation whom nature has 
liberally endowed, are suffered to grow up in ignorance, when 
a common education would qualify them to act their parts in 
life with advantage to the public and reputation to themselves. 

"That in consequence of there being no legal provision for the 
establishment of schools, and for want of public attention and 
encouragement, this so essential part of our social duty is left 
to the partial patronage of individuals, whose cares do not extend 
beyond the limits of their own families, while numbers in every 
part of the state are deprived of a privilege which it is the common 
right of every child to enjoy. 

"That when to that respect which as individuals we feel 
ourselves bound to render to the representatives of the people 
we add our public declaration of gratitude for the privilege we 
enjoy as a corporate body, we at the same time solicit this 
Honorable Assembly to make legal provision for the establish- 
ment of free schools sufficient to educate all the children in the 
several towns throughout the state; with great confidence we 
bring this, our earnest solicitation before this Honorable Assem- 
bly, from the interest we feel in the public welfare and from the 
consideration that our society is composed of members not 
originally of any one particular town, but assembled mostly in 
our early years from almost every town in the state. 

"That we feel as individuals the want of that education which 
we now ask to be bestowed on those who are to succeed us in 
life, and which is so essential in directing its common concerns. 
That we feel a still greater degree of confidence from the con- 
sideration that while we pray this Honorable Assembly to estab- 
lish free schools, we are at the same time advocating the cause of 
the great majority of children throughout the state, and in 
particular of those who are poor and destitute — the son of the 
widow and the child of distress. 

"Trusting that our occupations as mechanics and manu- 
facturers ought not to prevent us from adding to these reasons 
an argument which cannot fail to operate on those to whom is 
committed the guardianship of the public welfare, and that is, 
liberty and security under a republican form of government 
depend on a general diffusion of knowledge among the people. 

"In confiding this petition and the reasons which have 
dictated it to the wisdom of the Legislature we assure ourselves 
that their decision will be such as will reflect on this Honorable 
General Assembly the praise and the gratitude, not only of the 
youth of the present generation, but of thousands the date of 
whose existence has not commenced. 

"Respectfully submitted by John Howland, Joel Metcalf, 
William Richmond, Peter Grinnell, Richard Anthony, Grindall 
Reynolds, Samuel Thurber, Jr., and Nathan Foster, committee." 



BEGINNINGS OF A STATE SYSTEM. 79 

A Favorable Report. — The petition was received and referred 
to a committee, which reported June 7, 1799, in part as follows: 

"The committee to whom was referred the memorial of the 
Providence Association of Mechanics and Manufacturers, on the 
expediency of making provision by law for the support of free 
schools, respectfully report: That they have given to the 
subject the attention and consideration which its importance so 
justly demanded, and have prepared a bill which, with such 
alterations and amendments as the wisdom of the General 
Assembly may suggest, they recommend to have passed into a 
law. 

> "Your committee would beg leave to observe that no institu- 
tions of the kind proposed existing at present in the state, and 
the want of local divisions or parishes, of school committees 
and a system of school taxation, and especially superintend- 
ence, render the establishment more difficult than it may at 
first appear, and offer obstacles to the complete execution of it 
in the first trial which the committee hope may be overcome by 
time and experience. They have no doubt that actual experi- 
ment will show many defects in the act now recommended, but 
they believe it will at the same time suggest the proper reme- 
dies. In the operation of a novel and extensive system diffi- 
culties will arise which, though they may be reasonably appre- 
hended, cannot at present be distinctly pointed out, and which 
the wisdom of the General Assembly will, from time to time, 
discover and remove. . . . 

"The encouragement which the General Assembly can give 
to the wide diffusion of the means of education will, in the 
opinion of the committee, not only produce its proper and 
immediate consequence, but by exciting a spirit of exertion and 
liberality in the several towns and school districts, would exceed 
all present calculations in the important effect of informing, 
improving and moralizing the people. 

"The attention which the subject of education has lately 
awakened in the people, and the paternal care of the General 
Assembly to gratify the wishes and remove the grievances of 
their constituents, excite in the committee a pleasing expecta- 
tion that the period is not distant when this state may rival in 
knowledge and morals the most refined and enlightened in the 
nation." 

The report was signed by Moses Lippitt, Richard Jackson 
and James Burrill. With the report of the committee was a 
draft of a free school act drawn by James Burrill. Certain 
sections of the act follow: 



80 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

The Act of 1800. — "Whereas the unexampled prosperity, 
unanimity and liberty for the enjoyment of which this nation 
is eminently distinguished among the nations of the earth are 
to be ascribed, next to the blessing of God, to the general 
diffusion of knowledge and information among the people, 
whereby they have been enabled to discern their true interests, 
to distinguish truth from error, to place their confidence in the 
true friends of the country, and to detect the falsehoods and 
misrepresentations of factious and crafty pretenders to patriot- 
ism, and this General Assembly being desirous to secure the 
continuance of the blessings aforesaid, and moreover to con- 
tribute to the greater equality of the people by the common and 
joint instruction and education of the whole — 

"Be it enacted by the General Assembly and the authority 
thereof, and it is hereby enacted: That each and every town 
shall annually cause to be established and kept, at the expense 
of such town, one or mere free schools for the instruction of all 
the white inhabitants of said town between the ages of six and 
twenty years in reading, writing and common arithmetic, who 
may stand in need of said instruction and apply therefor. 

"2. And be it further Enacted: That it shall be the duty 
of the town council of every town to divide said town into so 
many school districts as they shall judge necessary and con- 
venient, provided no town shall be divided into more than four 
such districts. 

"3. And be it further Enacted: That each of the towns of 
Newport and Providence shall cause to be established and kept 
so many free schools and for such term as shall be equivalent to 
keep three schools eight months each; . . . South Kings- 
town, Glocester and Smithfield, three schools six months each; 
. . . Portsmouth, Tiverton, Little Compton, Scituate, Cum- 
berland, Cranston, Johnston, Foster, Westerly, North Kings- 
town, Charlestown, Exeter, Richmond, Hopkinton, Bristol, 
Warwick, East Greenwich, West Greenwich and Coventry, 
three schools four months each; . . Middletown, Johns- 

ton, New Shoreham, North Providence, Warren and Barrington, 
one school four months." 

Section 4 provided for remission to towns complying with the 
act of twenty per cent, of taxes paid by the town to the state; 
section 5, that money so remitted should be used exclusively 
for school support; section 6, for forfeiture by neglect to keep 
schools; section 7, for annual reports to the General Assembly. 
Section 8 permitted any school district at a meeting of freemen 
called for the purpose, seven freemen being a quorum, to assess 
a tax on ratable estates in the district for building, repairing or 
improving a schoolhouse or for extending the school term. 



BEGINNINGS OF A STATE SYSTEM. 81 

Section 9 required teachers to be citizens of the United States,* 
certificated by town councils. Section 10 made the town 
council in each town a school committee. 

In the House of Representatives, June 12, 1799, it was 
"voted and resolved that 500 copies of the report of the com- 
mittee on the expediency of establishing free schools, and of the 
bill for that purpose by them reported, be printed, and a 
copy of the same be delivered to each member of this House and 
of the Senate, and another copy transmitted by the members 
to the several town clerks, and that further consideration of the 
subject be referred to the next session." The Senate concurred 
June 14, 1799. 

The Act Passed and Repealed. — The House of Representatives 
passed the bill at the October session, 1799, but the. Senate 
postponed consideration to the next February session, when 
concurrence was unanimous. Providence immediately organ- 
ized its first free schools under the act. Smithfield complied 
with the act for two years. Middletown claimed tax remission 
on account of a free school. Bristol probably could have 
qualified for tax remission. Otherwise the towns did not 
comply with the law; several protested. The act was repealed 
in 1803. Providence continued the free schools established 
under the act, in spite of its repeal. 

The almost complete failure of the act of 1800 might have 
disheartened its proponents had they not accomplished one of 
their primary purposes — the establishment of free schools in 
Providence after 33 years of agitation. As it was, the vigorous 
opposition developed in the towns proved decisively that the 
movement for statewide public schools was premature. The 
General Assembly continued to charter academies and school 
societies, and to grant lotteries for educational purposes ; 
citizens of the towns continued to organize, to build school- 
houses and subscribe for the maintenance of teachers. Interest 

*The State Board of Education in 1917 added to the requirements for certification an 
oath or pledge of loyalty to the state and nation. 



82 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

in education produced a wholesome growth of opportunitites for 
schooling. 

Governor Knight's Message. — Governor Nehemiah R. Knight, 
in a message to the General Assembly in October, 1818, rec- 
ommended provision of public schools for youth employed in 
factories, thus : 

"While the general Government protects and encourages 
agriculture, commerce and manufactures, the legislatures of the 
several states are the immediate guardians of the public morals 
and education; to them is more particularly entrusted the 
duty of providing for the cultivating and enlightening of the 
mind, a trust so essential in all good societies and especially so 
in a government where all power is vested in the people, and all 
the acts of the public functionaries are weighed and tested by 
public opinion. It is true that many persons have done much 
by establishing Sunday schools* in the neighborhood of the 
manufacturing villages of the state; but when we reflect how 
small a portion of time is appropriated to education by Sunday 
schools alone, we must be sensible that the acquirements of the 
youth who labor in these factories must be extremely limited. 
And it is a lamentable truth that too many of the rising genera- 
tion who are obliged to labor in those works of almost un- 
ceasing application and industry, are growing up without an 
opportunity of obtaining that education which is necessary for 
their personal welfare, as well as the welfare of the whole com- 
munity. 

"I am well assured that a plan can be devised and carried 
into effect by the aid of the Legislature, and without any 
expense to the state, that shall educate them in a manner that 
will make them not only useful to their country, but also to 
themselves, and will enable Ithem, not only to exercise the 
privileges of freemen, but be capable of estimating these 
blessings." 

A committee appointed to consider the recommendation 
reported that it was inexpedient to establish public schools for 
persons employed in manufacturing establishments. | 

A Committee That Did Not Report. — The General Assembly, 
on June 21, 1821, "voted and resolved that C. Ellery Robbins, 
Philip Allen, Nathaniel Bullock, Nathan F. Dixon and Charles 
Brayton, Esquires, be a committee to inquire into the state 

*Early Rhode Island Sunday schools were devoted to secular education. 



BEGINNINGS OF A STATE SYSTEM. 83 

of education in the several towns of the state, and that they 
make their report to this General Assembly at the ensuing 
October session. 

"Voted and resolved that the town clerks of the several towns 
be, and they are hereby, directed to make a correct return to the 
chairman of said committee of the number of schools in their 
respective towns, and the branches of learning taught therein; 
of the number of months of the year in which the schools are 
opened, the average expense of tuition for said schools, and the 
number of pupils attending the same, and they are further 
hereby directed to furnish to the chairman of said committee a 
correct statement of the number and condition of the several 
schoolhouses in their respective towns, specifying at whose ex- 
pense they were built and at whose charge they are kept up, 
and generally such other information with respect to the public 
and private schools in the state as the committee may think fit 
to require. . . ." 

The committee did not report. Exactly three years after the 
appointment of this committee, a constitutional convention, 
which met at Newport, adopted a proposed constitution, which 
the freemen did not ratify. The proposed constitution con- 
tained an article entitled "Education," which provided foi the 
accumulation of a permanent school fund, the income of which, 
when sufficient, was to be applied to the support of free schools 
in every town in the state. 

Four j^ears later the General Assembly enacted a general 
school law, providing an appropriation of $5000 to and the 
accumulation of a permanent school fund, and the distribution 
of $10,000 annually for the support of public schools in the 
several towns. The story of its enactment and the changes 
which it wrought in Pthode Island schools belongs in another 
chapter. 



CHAPTER III. 



ORGANIZATION OF A STATE SCHOOL 
SYSTEM. 



The public press of Rhode Island has generally advocated 
schools and the extension of school facilities. Educational 
leaders and educational reformers usually have had the hearty 
support of editors. If, indeed, the finger of editorial criticism 
has pointed sometimes at schoolmen and school methods and 
school conditions, the purpose has been, almost without excep- 
tion, to stimulate improvement by change; such criticism is 
wholesome and benign. 

Cause and effect are difficult to unravel, so closely are they in- 
terwoven ; who shall determine whether a newspaper has created 
public opinion, or has merely voiced public sentiment? The 
answer of philosophy is an attempt to reconcile the notion of a 
free idea with determinism, in the doctrine of pragmatism 
applied to social psychology. The newspaper is the voice of 
the group; when it fails to speak truly the opinion and feeling 
of the group, it wants adaptation and is doomed to failure. The 
test of truth-speaking lies in long-time perspective and accom- 
plishment; for newspapers sometimes weather temporary 
storms aroused by unpropitious utterances. There was no 
serious opposition to the leadership assumed by the press of 
Rhode Island in 1827 and 1828. Consequently it is logical to 
conclude that the newspapers, which unanimously advocated 
state support of education, spoke for the people of Rhode 
Island. And this it is possible to do without detracting in any 
way from the credit due the Rhode Island American and 



ORGANIZATION OF A STATE SYSTEM. 85 

Gazette and its able editor, B. F. Hallett, for their part in 
fostering the movement which resulted in the general school 
legislation of 1828. 

Reviewing earlier events briefly: A free school law enacted 
in 1800 was repealed in 1803. A committee of the General 
Assembly in 1818 reported as inexpedient Governor Knight's 
proposition to establish free schools for youth employed in 
factories. A committee of the General Assembly, appointed in 
1821 to collect school statistics, failed to report. A constitution 
that provided for a permanent school fund was rejected by the 
freemen in 1824. 

The General Assembly, in 1825, referred a proposed "act 
for the establishment of lotteries for the purpose of raising a 
fund for the support of free schools" to the next session. 

The American and Gazette printed on October 16, 1827, and 
the Microcosm on October 19, 1827, repeated, an editorial 
which declared : 

"No man who knows anything about the subject will deny 
that there are a less number of schools and vastly a less number 
of children engaged at school in this state than within the same 
extent and among an equal number of population in any state 
in New England. The consequence must be, unless it can be 
shown that learning is intuitive, that the youth of Rhode Island 
are not so well educated as the children in any other state, 
where free schools are established. . . ." 

The editor modified his view subsequently. On January 18, 
1828, he wrote: "Theie is a much larger number of school- 
houses erected than has been generally supposed, and but few 
additional ones will be required." In the interval he had 
come into possession of the facts concerning Rhode Island 
schools— facts neglected by those who have written the history 
of education in Rhode Island apologetically. 

" It would be a fine opportunity, calmly and seriously, to take 
up the subject of free schools, and provide a fund from lottery 
patronage and other taxes or surplus revenue. There is on the 



86 PUBLJC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

docket no business of great importance," said the American 
and Gazette on October 20, 1827. 

A bill to raise a fund for public schools by lottery was included 
in the unfinished business at the October session, 1827. On 
October 30, 1827, Representatives Tillinghast of Providence, 
Lapham of Burrillville and Waterman of South Kingstown 
presented memorials urging free schools. These were referred 
to a committee, consisting of Representatives Tillinghast of 
Providence, Trevett of Newport, Howe of Bristol, Waterman 
of Warwick and Dixon of Westerly. Other memorials had 
been received from Smithfield. Cumberland, Johnston and East 
Greenwich. 

Representative Waterman of Warwick presented a set of 
resolutions, as follows : 

"Resolved, That it is highly expedient that a fund be created 
and established, to be denominated the school fund. 

"Resolved, That it is expedient that the sum of dollars 

be appropriated out of the money now in the treasury to the 
object of the foregoing resolution. 

"Resolved, That a committee be appointed, together with 
such as the Honorable Senate shall appoint, for the purpose of 
maturing and representing to each of the houses of the Assembly 
an act embodying the object of the foregoing." 

The resolutions, which, if adopted, would have created a school 
fund, but, incidentally, would have defeated the movement for 
the establishment of free schools immediately, were tabled. 
Waterman was leader of the opposition to free schools; yet so 
strong was public sentiment he dared not venture openly to 
oppose what he probably realized was inevitable. 

First Draft of the Act of 1828. — Representative Tillinghast, on 
Thursday, November 1, 1827, reported from committee a bill, 
which was read the first time. It provided that all money 
accruing to the state from lottery taxes and auction fees should 
be paid to the several towns at the ratio of taxation in 1824 — 
not to exceed a blank sum in any year — the towns receiving their 



ORGANIZATION OF A STATE SYSTEM. 87 

proportion first erecting, at their Own expense, or otherwise pro- 
viding schoolhouses, not less than two in each town, and raising 
in such way as they thought proper an annual sum equal (or 
such proportion as may be determined when the act passes) to 
the sum received out of the general treasury, to be put in the 
hands of a free school committee of not less than seven nor 
more than twenty-one, who should have power to draw the 
town's portion from the state treasury, and to provide teachers 
and generally to superintend the schools in their respective 
towns. Towns neglecting to provide schools forfeited any 
right to participation in the distribution of state money, and 
money thus forfeited was to be added to the sum to be dis- 
tributed by the state in the year following. The proposed act 
also appropriated a blank sum for a permanent school fund, to 
which was to be added all revenue from lotteries and auctions 
in excess of the sum annually distributed to the towns for school 
support. This bill was the first draft of the act of 1828; it 
made no further progress until the January session, 1828. 

THE FIGHT FOR FREE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 

The American and Gazette in 1828, took up the fight for free 
schools in earnest. January 4, it said: 

"There is one subject of much more importance to Rhode 
Island than the election of a President, and that is the estab- 
lishment of free schools. To be sure, those who would favor 
a military depotism would not be anxious to disseminate educa- 
tion, but this is a question involving the dearest interest of 
present and future generations, and all others ought to be made 
to yield to it." 

Anticipating the opening of the January session of the Gen- 
eral Assembly, the same newspaper, on January 11, said: 

"Among all the subjects which will come before them (the 
General Assembly) the bill for establishing free schools stands 
pre-eminent. This deserves an early and deliberate considera- 
tion. Happily no real difference of opinion exists as to the 
expediency of establishing free schools, and we do not believe 



88 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

that if the question were taken by ayes and noes, a single mem- 
ber of the House would answer in the negative. There are 
three or four members in the Senate we should anticipate a 
negative vote from, in accordance with their uniform objection 
to every measure of public opinion and improvement. The 
only question that will produce difference of opinion is the mode 
of establishing schools, the ways and means by which they are 
to be supported — whether it shall depend upon a somewhat 
precarious revenue derived from lotteries, etc., or whether to 
this sum shall be added an equal or proportional amount raised 
by the several towns in such manner as they may think proper. 
As to the plan proposed by Mr. Waterman,* the benefits of 
which are to be experienced by the children of the great- 
grandchildren of the present generation, no man who is a father 
can listen to it a moment. We do not believe in the maxim 
'Let posterity take care of itself/ but it surely is a correct 
principle that we should first provide for the present rising 
generation. Let free schools be established to the extent our 
present means will allow, and future generations will provide 
for preserving and enlarging the system. There is no instance 
in which a system of free schools, once fairly established, has 
been abandoned. It can, moreover, be plainly shown that the 
voluntary tax to be raised by each of the towns to entitle them 
to an equal or larger sum from the treasury, will not exceed the 
amount they already pay for the schools kept within their 
limits. Under the contemplated bill they will, therefore, receive 
double the benefits they now experience, at no greater expense 
than they already voluntarily incur for the education of their 
children." 

The Movement in 1828 Co-operative. — One who reads the 
editorial in the American and Gazette without an understanding 
of the conditions actually existing in Rhode Island at the period 
incurs the danger of serious misunderstanding. It may fairly 
be inferred from the trend of the editorial that the proposed 
law imposed upon the towns of the state no greater burden than 
they had already taken for education. As a matter of fact, only 
two towns, Newport and Providence, were supporting free 
public schools. With respect to all other towns the editorial 
must be read as referring, when it speaks of "the amount which 
they already pay for the schools kept within their limits," to 
schools maintained privately, by school societies and other 

♦The school fund proposition of October, 1827. 



ORGANIZATION OF A STATE SYSTEM. 89 

voluntary co-operative agencies. There can be no question or 
doubt that the state's first definite venture with provision for 
public schools aimed to unite quasi-public agencies and bring 
them as far as possible under public control. All that was 
necessary to comply with the terms of the act and earn the 
right to participate in the distribution of state money was the 
transfer of school control from private agencies to the town 
school committee. Property rights and titles might remain 
unaffected. 

The Debate in 1828. — The Tillinghast bill was read a second 
time January 15, and the House of Representatives made it a 
special order for Thursday, January 17. An animated debate 
continued through morning and afternoon sessions until after 
5 o'clock on Thursday. Representative Waterman of Warwick 
again urged a substitute bill providing for the accumulation of a 
school fund, subject to action by a future General Assembly. 
He was supported by Representatives Potter, Hazard and 
Bull. Representatives Tillinghast, Dixon, Simmons, Allen and 
Bicknell opposed the Waterman proposition. It was rejected, 
only nine members voting for it. By this test vote the sup- 
porters of immediate action proved their strength. 

The House then proceeded to consider the proposed act by 
sections. The basis of apportionment was changed from 
taxable wealth, or taxes paid, as*in the act of 1800, to population 
under sixteen. The amount to be appropriated by the state 
annually was fixed at $10,000. Unfortunately the section re- 
quiring towns to build or provide schoolhouses and to supple- 
ment state support by town taxation failed; instead, a sub- 
stituted section permitted towns to raise by taxation not ex- 
ceeding twice the amount paid by the state, but established no 
minimum requirement. Expediency, perhaps, made discretion 
the better choice; the friends of the free school movement 
realized that the act was least likely to fail if it imposed no 
burden immediately and directly upon town taxpayers. Close- 



90 PUBLIC. EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

fisted ratepayers could interpose no valid objection to an 
improvement which cost them nothing. The amended bill was 
then sent back for revision to the committee, to which Repre- 
sentatives Bull and Bicknell were added. 

Moulding Public Opinion. — The American and Gazette of 
January 18 published a communication signed "Hopkins," 
which urged immediate action and opposed the Waterman 
plan for a school fund for five reasons: 1. Because it does not 
provide for the present generation. 2. Because the money 
from lotteries (paid by poor people, which it is proposed to apply 
to school support) is in hand and should be distributed. 3. 
Because it is impossible to tell what a General Assembly of the 
future may do with the money when the school fund has accum- 
ulated and is providing a handsome revenue. 4. Because it is 
dangerous to wait until $300,000 shall be accumulated. 5. 
Because five dollars in a mental savings bank is worth one 
hundred dollars in silver. The third reason was almost pro- 
phetic of the future history of the permanent school fund. 
"Hopkins" advocated election of a General Assembly that 
would provide schools, if the Legislature then in session failed 
to act. He felt certain of public opinion. 

On the same day, January 18, the American and Gazette 
printed a survey of school conditions in the state,* the data 
having been solicited from Representatives of the towns. Com- 
menting on the survey, the newspaper said, in words which 
emphasize the desirability of establishing public control over 
educational agencies : 

"From an examination of the above statement, it will be seen 
that there is a much larger number of schoolhouses erected than 
has been generally supposed, and but few additional ones will be 
required. It is obvious, too, that the expense to all the towns 
to keep up the schools they now maintain is a much greater 
sum than they will be required to assess in order to entitle them 
to their proportion of any money that may be appropriated out 

*The survey is tabularized in the preceding chapter. 



ORGANIZATION OF A STATE SYSTEM. 91 

of the treasury, thus giving them, at a less expense than the 
inhabitants of these towns now voluntarily incur, nearly double 
the advantages of education they are now receiving. 

"The total number of schoolhouses located in all the towns 
in the state (exclusive of Providence and Newport) are 181, 
and 10 academies. The number of winter schools averaging at 
least three months a year, maintained by the inhabitants of 
these towns, is 262. A winter school for three months must 
cost at least $100, which gives $262,000, the sum now annually 
paid by the inhabitants of the towns above alluded to, for the 
education of their children, besides the expense of keeping 
female* schools in summer. If the blank in the bill now before 
the General Assembly is filled with $10,000, the proportion which 
those towns will receive from that sum will so much diminish 
their expense of education; or if they add to it what they now 
pay within themselves, will greatly extend the means of in- 
struction among their children, without one cent additional 
burden, the only effect being to equalize the payment of the 
sums now voluntarily raised in the several towns." 

The American and Gazette published a verbatim report of 
the debate on the school bill, written by its editor, B. F. Hallett. 
The newspaper advocated the taking of all votes by ayes and 
noes, so that each member of the General Assembly might be 
put on record for the information of his constituents. 

When the roll was called in the House of Representatives on 
. the final division, only Almy of Little Compton and Gray of 
Tiverton voted no. Smith of Scituate was excused from voting. 
Arnold, Alien, Bailey, Bull, Potter, Peckham, Simmons, Stone 
and Waterman were "absent" when the roll was called. The 
Senate concurred unanimously, after making a few amend- 
ments. The act adopted was a compromise measure, but only 
in the sense that it incorporated provisions both for a per- 
manent school fund and for free schools immediately. The 
friends of free schools had won a decisive victory. 

THE SCHOOL ACT OF 1828. 

The school act of 1828 provided (section 1) that all money 
paid into the general treasury by managers of lotteries or their 

♦Female schools" in 1828 meant schools taught by women; not schools for women or 
girls . 



92 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND- 

agents, and also all money accruing to the state from auction 
duties, should be set apart and paid over to the several towns, 
in proportion to their respective population under 16 years of 
age, " to be by said towns appropriated to and for the exclusive 
purpose of keeping public schools and paying expenses thereof, 
the sum, however, hereby appropriated to be paid over in any 
one year not to exceed $10,000." 

Sec. 2. That each town shall be and is hereby empowered to 
raise so much money by tax in each year as a majority of the 
freemen in town meeting shall judge proper to be appropriated 
to the purpose of public schools, not exceeding, in any one year, 
double the amount to be in that year received by such 
town out of the general treasmy by the provisions of this act; 
provided that notice be inserted in the warrant issued for calling 
the town meeting at which such tax shall be laid that such tax 
will be acted upon at such town meeting. 

Sec. 3. That at the annual town meeting holden for the 
choice of town officers, each and every town in the state shall, 
after passing of this act, appoint a committee, which shall be 
called the school committee, and shall consist of not less than 
five nor more than twenty-one persons, resident inhabitants of 
each of said towns, to act without compensation. . . . 

Sec. 4. That the school committee of each town shall have 
power to make all necessary rules and regulations which they 
may deem expedient, for the good government of the public 
schools in their respective towns; shall appoint all school- 
masters and schoolmistresses to be employed in teaching the 
schools, taking care that such masters and mistresses are qualified 
for the task; shall have power to dismiss a schoolmaster or 
schoolmistress in case of inability or mismanagement; shall 
determine upon the places where the schools shall be located 
in the respective school districts in the towns. . . . 

Sec. 5 required the General Treasurer to keep a separate 
account of money paid into the treasury by lottery managers 
and auctioneers and to report annually to the General Assem- 
bly. Sec. 6 required town councils to certify annually that 
the money received the previous year had been faithfully 
applied to the objects contemplated by the act, as a condition 
precedent to sharing in current and subsequent apportion- 
ments. Sec. 7 fixed June 1 as the date for the annual appor- 
tionment. Sec. 8 appropriated $5000 for a permanent school 
fund, to which should be added annually the excess of receipts 
from lottery managers and auctioneers and the income of the 
fund itself over $10,000. 



ORGANIZATION OF A STATE SYSTEM. 93 

Sec. 9. That whenever in any year the money paid into the 
treasury from the sources provided in this act shall fall short 
of said sum of $10,000, the deficiency for said year shall be made 
good from any money in the treasury not otherwise appro- 
priated. 

The act of 1828 thus provided an unfailing annual appro- 
priation of $10,000 for support of public schools, to be main- 
tained by the towns, and placed the control of town public 
schools in the hands of school committees to be chosen by the 
freemen in town meeting. The act of 1828 differed from the 
act of 1800 in eight essentials : 

1. The amount appropriated was fixed at $10,000, whereas 
the amount to be distributed under the earlier act might 
fluctuate under, but never could exceed $6000. 

2. The ratio of apportionment was based approximately 
upon school population, instead of upon ratable wealth. 

3. The act imposed no duty upon towns to supplement the 
state appropriation, whereas the act of 1800 required the towns 
to maintain free schools. 

4. The act limited the amount which a town might raise by 
tax for school support, whereas the act of 1800 imposed no 
limitation, but rather provided a simple machinery for extension 
of school support. 

5. Control of town schools was vested in school committees 
chosen by the freemen, instead of in town councils. 

6. The act of 1828 provided for a permanent school fund; 
the act of 1800 did not. 

7. The act of 1828 designated the schools to be maintained 
"public" schools, instead of the "free" schools of the earlier act. 

8. The act of 1828 sanctioned the creation of school dis- 
tricts, but made no provision for school district meetings and 
separate school maintenance by school districts, as had the act 
of 1800. Neither act, however, sanctioned the control of 
district schools by trustees, an unfortunate innovation intro- 
duced in Rhode Island by Henry Barnard. 



94 PUBLIC feDUCATION IN EHODE ISLAND. 

EFFECTS OF THE ACT OF 1828. 

John Howland reviewed the new act caustically, thus: "By 
the new state law for the encouragement, or rather for the 
discouragement of schools, each town is to receive a small sum 
annually from the state treasury and are allowed to assess a 
small sum, I don't recollect how much, in a town tax for the 
same purpose. This limitation, beyond which the towns are 
prohibited from assessing, was passed in the General Assembly 
by the influence of members who were opposed to the general 
instruction of children throughout the state, and wished to 
confine it to paupers." 

The state was divided into 323 school districts* under the 
act, and the state appropriation thus averaged $30.96 per 
district. The American and Gazette estimated the cost of 
keeping a three-months school at $100, that is $8.33 per week 
for 12 weeks, or $7.69 per week for 13 weeks. Teachers could 
be tired at such figures; Providence paid only $500 annually 
for schoolmasters who taught all the year around, or less than 
$10 per week, while ushers, or assistant teachers were paid $250 
per year, or less than $5 per week. The state and town appro- 
priations, if the town appropriated up to the limit permitted 
by law, amounted to the cost of keeping a free school at least 
three months in every district. This was a small beginning, 
but it was a good beginning, and it produced results and bore 
good fruit immediately. 

The Towns Act. — Burrillville, a new town, set off from 
Glocester in 1806 and named for James Burrill, who wrote the 
school act of 1800, appointed a committee of 23 members to 
divide the town into school districts, and a school committee 
of 21, which it reduced to 16 in 1829. The town appropriated 
$300 to supplement the state apportionment, which amounted to 
$199.80. Charlestown was divided into six school districts in 

♦Counting attendance districts in towns not actually divided into school districts. 



ORGANIZATION OF A STATE SYSTEM. 95 

1828. East Greenwich appointed a school committee in 1828, 
divided the town into five districts, and conducted a three 
months school in each district, at the expense of the town 
beyond the money received fiom the state. In 1829 the town 
voted to appropriate $100 for each district which built a school- 
house. In 1831 application to the General Assembly was made 
for authority to build schoolhouses in, all districts at the expense 
of the town; granted in 1832. The schoolhouses were erected 
at an expense to the town of approximately $1500 for five 
schoolhouses, individuals contributing beyond the appropria- 
tion. Parents of scholars were required to furnish wood for 
fuel and to board the teacher, though the very poor were 
excused from all burdens. Glocester voted, in 1828, to raise by 
taxation an amount for school purposes equal to the money 
received from the state. The Jefferson School Society of 
Glocester obtained a charter from the General Assembly in 
October, 1828. Hopkinton appointed a school committee, 
which divided the town into 11 districts without reference to 
schoolhouses already built, and elected teachers for each district. 
In 1829 Hopkinton was ordered by the General Assembly to 
provide schoolhouses on penalty of forfeiting its share of the 
state appropriation. Johnston appointed a school committee, 
districted the town and located schoolhouse sites. Middle- 
town, in 1829, voted a tax of $119 for school support, to supple- 
ment the state money. Newport continued its free public 
schools, already established. By special act of the General 
Assembly Newport was permitted to expend its share of the 
state school money for completing the town schoolhouse and 
supporting another school. North Kingstown elected a school 
committee of 15 members. The town was divided into 10 
districts, in which schools were kept 12 weeks. The state 
school money was supplemented by a town appropriation equal 
in amount, and the school committee apportioned the total 
amount available amongst the districts in proportion to actual 



96 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

attendance. Providence received permission to raise by taxa- 
tion for school purposes any amount approved by the freemen, 
unhampered by the restriction imposed by the school act. The 
free school system was reorganized and improved as described 
in later paragraphs. Warwick appointed a school committee 
and supplemented the state appropriation. One district in 
Warwick and one in Cranston were united by special act of the 
General Assembly in 1828 under a joint school committee as 
Pawtuxet school district; the union was discontinued after a 
short trial, the law being repealed in 1832. Westerly, in 1830, 
was authorized to build and repair schoolhouses at town ex- 
pense. The list here is suggestive rather than exhaustive. 
School committee and town records are in such condition that a 
complete statement may not be collected from them. 

REORGANIZATION IN PROVIDENCE. . 

In Providence a reorganization of the public schools occurred 
contemporaneously with the new state movement. It needs 
little thought to reach the conclusion that the establishment 
of free schools in Newport, the enactment of the school law of 
1828, and the marked advance in Providence all resulted from 
the operation of the same general social force. Elsewhere it 
produced a beginning; in Providence, where a beginning had 
been made years before, it caused a revival and an advance. 
The advance in Providence was easier to accomplish than the 
beginning in other towns elsewhere, and it attained a some- 
what earlier start. 

The town council and school committee, in 1826, requested 
schoolmasters to report "their opinions whether any improve- 
ment may be made, in the mode of instruction, and if so, to give 
their views of such improvement in the art of writing among 
the scholars of the several public schools." In the same year 
new textbooks were approved. A school for small children, 
under a woman teacher, was opened in 1827. It was resolved 



ORGANIZATION OF A STATE SYSTEM. 97 

on January 24, 1828, that Francis Wayland, President of Brown 
University, Thomas F. Waterman and William T. Grinnell be 
"requested and directed to visit all the schools under the care 
of the common council, report the books used in each school, the 
studies pursued, the age at which the scholars are admitted, the 
average amount of absence, and whatever else may seem to 
them important, and suggest such alterations and amendment 
in the general system of instruction, and such regulations for the 
general government of the schools as they may deem expedient." 
Wayland's Report—The following extracts from the report 
of the committee show the trend of this important school docu- 
ment, drawn by Francis Wayland, and indicate reasons for 
dissatisfaction with the public schools of the period: 

"There should be furnished a number of schools sufficient to 
accommodate all who wish to avail themselves of their advan- 
tages. Everyone sees the injustice of taxing the whole com- 
munity to support one or two schools, to which not more than 
one-tenth of the whole number of children can find admittance. 
The same injustice will evidently occur if the number of scholars 
imposed upon a teacher be so great as to render his instruction 
of so little value that a large portion of the community is obliged 
to resort to private schools. The same principle would dictate 
that there be established various grades of schools suited to the 
wants of the public. If there be but one description of schools, 
it must either be so elevated that many of the parents cannot 
prepare their children to enter it, or else so elementary that 
none would avail themselves of its advantages for any con- 
siderable length of time, or else everything of necessity would 
be so imperfectly taught that a very small portion would be 
benefited. In either case but a small portion of the community 
would receive the benefit of that provision, which all were taxed 
to support. 

" It may here be properly suggested whether equity does not 
demand that the system of public education in this town should 
make provision for at least one school of high character, a school 
which should provide instruction in all that is necessary to a 
finished education. If it be said that such a school would be of 
advantage only to the rich, it may be answered, as the rich 
contribute in an equal proportion to education, why should not 
they be entitled to a portion of the benefit. But it is far from 
being the case that such a school would be only for the rich. 
It would be as much a public school, as open to all, and as much 



98 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. ' 

under the government of the public as any other. But it would 
evidently be of most peculiar advantage to the middling classes, 
and the poor. Such an education as we propose the rich man 
can give, and will give to his son by sending him to private 
schools. But the man in moderate circumstances cannot afford 
to incur the heavy expenses of a first-rate school, and if no such 
provision be made, the education of his children must be re- 
stricted to the ordinary acquisition of a little more than reading 
and writing.* With such a school as we have contemplated, 
he would be enabled to give his child an education which would 
qualify him for distinction in any kind of business. 

"And, lastly, the principle of equity to which we have alluded 
would dictate that the public schools of every description should 
be well and skillfully taught. . . . 

"The schools now number on their books as many pupils as 
can receive advantage from the labors of the present instructors. 
Yet it will not, we presume, be denied that a very considerable 
portion of the children about our streets attend no school 
whatever. It would, therefore, seem proper that the school 
committee, joined with such persons as the town council may 
add, be empowered to increase the means of instruction from 
time to time as the wants of the population may require. But 
it has appeared to your committee that one part of this object 
may be accomplished immediately, and with very little addi- 
tional expense, by establishing a sufficient number of primary 
schools in different parts of the town. The effect of these will 
be to provide a grade of instruction as much needed by the 
public as any other, to elevate the character of the grammar 
schools, and to enable the teachers of these schools to devote their 
attention to a larger portion of those who are prepared for in- 
struction in the more advanced branches of education. . . . 

"If in addition to these two grades of schools a single school 
for the whole town should be established, of a more elevated 
character, to enter which it shall be necessary to have been 
proficient in all the studies of the grammar school, and in which 
should be taught a more perfect and scientific knowledge of 
geography, bookkeeping, arithmetic, algebra, geometry, naviga- 
tion, moral and natural philosophy, natural history, the elements 
of political economy, and the Constitution of the United States, 
and the Latin and Greek languages, we think that our system 
of education would be such as to do honor to the public spirit 
of this commercial and manufacturing metropolis, but not at 
all beyond what is demanded by the advanced intelligence of 
the age. Whether a high school, of somewhat the same char- 
acter, for girls might not also be desirable and expedient would 
be a matter for future consideration. 



*One argument for the modern public high school and the state college could not be better 
stated. 



ORGANIZATION OF A STATE SYSTEM. 99 

"Granting that if a teacher were limited to 20 or 30 pupils, he 
would teach better by personal instruction than upon the 
monitorial system — what has this decision to do with the case? 
Are we prepared to establish such schools? Are there an}' 
such public schools? The plain fact is that we must con- 
struct a system upon the supposition that there will be from 
150 to 200 scholars to a teacher, or to a teacher and an assist- 
ant. Now for such schools as these we are inclined to believe 
that the monitorial system is preferable. So far as our obser- 
vation has gone, we frankly declare that the proficiency of 
scholars, under the same circumstances in other respects, when 
taught under the monitorial system, has been decidedly superior 
to that of those taught upon the common system. But although 
these have been the views of your committee, they are far from 
recommending that the monitorial system be at once adopted 
in all our grammar schools. . . . 

"In closing this report your committee feel obliged to assure 
their fellow citizens that it is utterly in vain to hope for a 
valuable course of public instruction without a thorough and 
active system of supervision on the part of the community. 
Unless the schools be visited frequently and examined thor- 
oughly, and unless the school committee determine to give to 
this subject all the attention and reflection and labor necessary 
to carry the system of education to as great a degree of per- 
fection as the case admits, everything will be fruitless. With- 
out this every plan of education will fail, and with it almost any 
may be made to succeed. If a sufficient number of gentlemen 
can be found, who will devote to the interests of the rising 
generation a half-day every month, and who will so combine 
their labor as to produce the effect of a particular and general 
supervision, all that the most benevolent could wish can be 
accomplished. If such men cannot be found, nothing of value 
will ever be done." 

The faults which the committee found were insufficient 
schools to accommodate the school population; inadequate 
instruction, largely due to an insufficient number of teachers; 
want of grading; want of supervision. The report recom- 
mended: 1. Division of the school committee into primary 
and grammar school committees, which, with the town council, 
should have general charge of all public schools. 2. The estab- 
lishment of primary schools for young children. 3. A test of 
the monitorial system in one grammar school. 4. Establish- 
ment of a public high school for boys. 



100 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

Reorganization. — In June, 1828, the school government was 
reorganized under the school act, and the freemen resumed the 
election of the school committee, which, until Providence 
became a city, in 1832, was no longer under control of the town 
council. Asa Messer, who had resigned the presidency of 
Brown University in 1826, became President of the school 
committee. Upon petition of the town, in 1828, the General 
Assembly exempted Providence from the restriction upon taxa- 
tion imposed by the school law. Had Providence been limited 
to raising twice its share in the state school appropriation, the 
entire amount available for school purposes would have been 
less than the town had been spending annually for school sup- 
port for a quarter of a century. The limitation not only would 
prevent progress, but it threatened seriously the continuance 
of the schools already established. The obstacle removed, the 
schools were reorganized on the plan recommended by Francis 
Wayland and his colleagues, except that the opening of a high 
school was postponed indefinitely. Primary schools, taught by 
women were opened, and a separate school for colored children 
was established in the Brick schoolhouse on Meeting street. 
The scale of wages for grammar school teachers was continued 
at $500 per annum for masters and $250 for ushers, while the 
women teachers in the new primary schools received $175 per 
year, or $3,363^ per week. The teacher could collect the half- 
cent, for at that time a copper coin of that denomination was in 
circulation. 

New rules and regulations adopted by the school committee 
preserve the best available description of the new grading of 
schools. The branches taught in the primary schools were 
reading and spelling, and the books used were the New York 
Primer, the first and second parts of Alden's Spelling Book, 
Easy Lessons and the New Testament. The primary schools 
admitted children of both sexes four years old and upward. 
Upon reaching seven years of age and attaining ability to read 



ORGANIZATION OF A STATE SYSTEM. 



101 



fluently in the New Testament, after examination by a visiting 
committee of the school committee, the child was promoted to 
the higher grade of school, called a "writing" school. 

In the writing schools the branches taught were spelling, 
reading, the use of capital letters and punctuation, writing, 
arithmetic, the rudiments of bookkeeping, English grammar, 
geography and ' epistolary composition." The textbooks used 
were Alden's Spelling Book, the New Testament, the American 
Preceptor, the Brief Remarker, Murray's Sequel to the English 
Reader, Smith's Arithmetic, Murray's Abridgement of English 
Grammar and Woodbridge's Small Geography. All the prim- 
ary school textbooks except the New Testament were super- 
seded in 1830 by Oliver Angell's series of Union textbooks, 
Nos. 1, 2 and 3, which were sold to pupils for 8 cents, 14 cents 
and 17 cents, respectively. In writing schools Angell's Unions 
Nos. 4 and 5 succeeded Alden's Spelling Book, the American 
Preceptor and the Brief Remarker. Oliver Angell was master 
of a Providence writing school, and the Union textbooks were 
prepared especially for use in the schools of the town. They 
were adopted in many other Rhode Island towns. 

The report of the quarterly visitation of schools for May 29, 
1830, showed an attendance of 1,257 pupils, a gain of 25 per 
cent, over 1828. The report follows: 



Writing Schools. 



Teacher. 



Mr. Angell . 
Mr. Baker. 
Mr. Lee. . 
Mr. Peters. 
Mr. Ferris . 

Totals 



Primary Schools. 









*-" 








>, 


A 


*03 1 **" 








P0 i O 


Eh 1 Q 


68 


73 


141 


1 


48 


62 


110 


2 


86 


86 


172 


3 


80 


62 


142 


4 


60 


68 


128 


5 
6 


342 


351 


693 



Teacher. 



Miss Pratt 

Miss Church . . . 

Mrs. Davis 

Miss Lockwood. 

Miss Fisher 

Miss Delano.. . . 



68 



Totals. 



66 

37 
79 
55 



305 



50 



219 



118 

40 

116 

78 

125 

87 



564 



102 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

Providence was incorporated as a city in 1832, and under the 
charter the election of the school committee passed from the 
freemen to the city council. The fuel tax was abolished in 
1833, the committee reporting that payment of it could be 
enforced only by excluding delinquents from school, and that 
such a course seemed inconsistent with "the spirit of the law, 
or the great object of it." The schools of Providence thus 
became absolutely free schools. 

A RECORD OF STATEWIDE IMPROVEMENT. 

The process of state school organization under the act of 1828 
extended no further than the distribution of financial assistance. 
The law made no provision for the collection of school statistics; 
the only reports of the operation of the law required by the 
General Assembly were certificates from town councils that the 
state school money had been expended for school support, as a 
condition precedent to further participation in the apportion- 
ment thereof, and an annual report by the General Treasurer 
of the receipts of revenue appropriated for school purposes. 
Consequently there are no public statistics available by which 
to measure progress or retrogression. There has been preserved, 
however, the report of a survey made in 1831 by Oliver Angell, 
author of the Union textbooks, which was undertaken under 
auspices and circumstances which warrant its acceptance as 
made without prejudice, although not strictly accurate. In 
May, 1831, President Wayland presided at a public meeting of 
gentlemen interested in the cause of education, who assembled 
in the Town House in Providence. It was resolved to appoint 
two committees, one to take into consideration the general 
subject of lyceums and similar institutions designed to promote 
the cause of popular education, and to report generally thereon 
at an adjournment of the meeting, and the second committee 
to take into consideration the present state of schools and to 
report generally thereon, and also what improvements if any 



ORGANIZATION OF A STATE SYSTEM. 103 

can be made in the description and instruction thereof. To 
the first committee Messrs. Farley, Webb and Greene were 
appointed, a"nd to the second, Messrs. Angell, Curtis and Harts- 
horn. At an adjourned meeting Professor Alexis Caswell, 
afterward President of Brown University, presided. The 
report of the second committee, prepared by Oliver Angell, was 
received and ordered printed and distributed.* The most 
valuable part of the report was a table, which showed for each 
town in the state the number of public and private schools, the 
numbers of pupils attending public and private schools, the 
amounts appropriated by the several towns to supplement the 
state apportionment of public school money, the length of the 
school year in each town, and for the state the total numbers of 
men and women teachers in public and private schools. The 
figures in the following table have been taken from Oliver 
Angell's table, with the exception of the number of schools in 
each town in 1828, a column which has been added for purposes 
of comparison by which to measure the progress made under 
the state school law : 



*The report is in the Rider Collection. 



104 



PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 





<M 
00 

*o 
o 
A 

o 


"3 

O 

|s 

Pi 


"c 
o 

A 

° H 

P< 


3 

oj O 

o 
02 


o 
oj 

. to 

03 O 

11 
O 
EC 


.2 
a 

O 

a 
a 

oS . 

o S 


Barrington 


3 

12 
12 

9 
21 
16 
13 
10 

3 

15 
15 

9 

3 
9 

8 

5 

2 

4 

6 

11 

4 

8 

2 

10 

17 

7 

10 

17 

16 

6 

11 


3 
3 

16 

8 

18 

11 

17 

5 

13 

19 

17 

12 

2 

11 

7 

5 

2 

3 

12 

8 

8 

11 

9 

16 

24 

12 

12 

4 

13 

11 

11 


11 

16 
4 

17 
3 

17 
9 

7 

5 

32 

8 
10 

3 
56 

5 
20 

4 

20 

9 

8 
5 


113 
275 
800 
500 
900 
550 

1,200 
250 
390 

1,197 
510 
550 
100 
400 
245 
210 
400 
100 
550 
400 
360 

1,150 
225 
680 

2,049 
360 
600 
230 

1,040 
400 
300 






Bristol 

Burrillville 

Charlestown 

Coventry 

Cranston 


240 
500 

80 

1,000 
80 


$500 
300 

300 
500 


Cumberland 


500 


East Greenwich 


100 


Exeter 




Foster 






Glocester 

Hopkinton 

Jamestown . . 


400 

225 


550 

100 


Johnston 

Little Compton 

Middletown 

Newport 

New Shoreham 


175 
155 
900 


366 
800 


North Kingstown 

North Providence 


250 
300 
60 
1,682 
100 
550 

200 
400 
200 

250 
100 


574 


Portsmouth 

Providence 


5,000 


Richmond 

Scituate 

Smithfield 

South Kingstown 

Tiverton 


300 
600 


Warren 

Warwick 

Westerly 


350 
500 
150 


West Greenwich 








Totals 


294 


323 


269 


17,034 


7,847 


11,490 







The length of the school year was 12 months in public and 
private schools in Providence and Newport, and 12 months in 
private schools in Bristol. The public school year was 4 months 



ORGANIZATION OF A STATE SYSTEM. 105 

in Coventry, Micldletown and Warwick; 33^ months in Crans- 
ton, Hopkinton, Scituate and Westerly; 3 months in Barrington, 
Charlestown, East Greenwich, Foster, Glocester, Jamestown, 
Johnston, North Providence, Richmond, Smithfield and West 
Greenwich; 2% months in Exeter and North Kingstown; 2\i 
months in Burrillville; 2 months in Cumberland, New Shore- 
ham, Portsmouth, South Kingstown and Tiverton, and 1 month 
in Little Compton. In Bristol two schools taught by men were 
kept, respectively, 4 and 12 months, while one woman taught 
school 12 months; in Warren two of the four schools were kept 
3 months, and the other two 12 months. The average length 
of the school year, exclusive of 12 months schools, was three 
months. In most of the country towns private schools were 
public schools continued by subscription. Oliver Angell sum- 
marized his table as follows : 

Whole number of public schools in the state 323 

Whole number of scholars taught in them 17,034 

Number of male teachers, 318; female teachers, 147; 

total 465 

Number of schools continued through the year 20 

Amount appropriated by the towns for support of 

schools $11,490 

Amount drawn from the state treasury 10,000 

Total amount expended for support of public schools. 21,490 
Private schools, whole year; male teachers 30; female, 

38 118 

Number of scholars in them (exclusive of Friends' 

School) 3,403 

Estimated tuition at $20 per year per scholar $68,060 

Estimated tuition in other private schools, $3 per 

scholar 13,315 

Total estimated expenditure for private school tuition.. 81,375 

Annual expense of keeping schools (public and private) . 102,865 

Significant Figures. — The figures in the table yield other 
information. If from the total number of private schools in 
1831, private schools in Providence and Newport are omitted 
(as they were in 1828), the number of private schools in the 
state becomes 181, and the total number of schools, public and 



106 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

private, is then 504. Compared with 294 in 1828, a substantial 
gain is disclosed, even when discounts are made for private 
schools that were merely continuations of public schools. 
Where private schools were continuations of public schools, the 
length of the rural school year must be increased accordingly. 
The total attendance at public and private schools may not be 
calculated accurately from the table; that it exceeded 20,000 
seems probable, foi to the 17,034 public school pupils may be 
added the scholars attending whole-year private schools, and 
some part of those attending other private schools. 

Significant indices of improvement are found in these facts, 
derived from the table : 

1 . The total number of schools had increased in four years 
from 294 to 504 (exclusive in both instances of private schools 
in Newport and Providence). 

2. Two or more public schools were kept in every town in 
the state in 1831. 

3. The number of children receiving instruction at public 
expense had increased from less than 1400 to more than ten 
times that many.* 

4. More than half the towns in the state, 17 of 31, made 
appropriations in 1831 to supplement the state school money. 

5. The total of town appropriations exceeded the state 
appropriation. 

There can be no question that the immediate effect of the 
school act of 1828 had been stimulating and beneficial. 

MORE SCHOOL LEGISLATION. 

The most important school legislation of the decade following 
1828 was the appropriation of the income of the United States 
deposit fund to school support. In 1839 a codified school law 
was enacted. Meanwhile almost every session of the General 
Assembly was productive of school legislation, for the most part 
special acts intended to aid towns in attaining full benefit of the 
law of 1828. 

*See the criticism of Angell's report below in this chapter. 



ORGANIZATION OF A STATE SYSTEM. 107 

A summary of special legislation follows : Providence was 
exempted from the restriction on taxation for school purposes 
imposed by the act of 1828. Newport was authorized to apply 
state school money and the income of school funds to building 
schoolhouses. East Greenwich and Westerly were authorized 
to levy taxes for and to build schoolhouses at the expense of the 
towns. School districts in Cumberland, Burrillville, North 
Providence, Richmond and Smithfield were permitted to levy 
taxes for and to build district schoolhouses. Hopkinton, 
Richmond and Exeter were ordered to provide schoolhouses. 
Bitter controversies arising in Hopkinton and Richmond from 
school taxation and the delineation of district boundaries, were 
carried to the General Assembly for adjustment. Smithfield 
received permission to increase its school committee to 30 
members. Two union school districts were established, one at 
Pawtuxet in Cranston- Warwick, and the other in Richmond- 
South Kingstown. The former was abolished in 1832. 

General school legislation permitted school committees to 
send children to schools in adjacent towns if more convenient; 
increased the maximum membership of school committees from 
21 to 30; changed the basis of apportionment of state school 
money from population under 16 to population under 15 first, 
and again to white population under 15, with a special ratio to 
reduce the census figures for colored population to the same 
basis as white. The state in 1838 inaugurated an annual appro- 
priation of $125 to maintain a school for the members of the 
Narragansett Indian tribe in Charlestown. 

THE CRITICAL YEARS FROM 1828 TO 1839. 

The beginning of a series of state-town reports of school con- 
ditions was forecasted in a resolution adopted by the General 
Assembly in 1836, directing town clerks to report the number, 
age, sex and pecuniary condition of deaf and dumb persons and 
the extent of their education, and also the number of c hildren 



108 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

who attend town public schools and the amount of school 
money received from the state. To the inquiry concerning 
attendance nineteen towns responded, reporting a total attend- 
ance of 12,350 children at town public schools. 

By act of 1838 school committees were required to report 
annually before the first Wednesday in May the amount of 
school money received from the state; the amount of school 
money raised by the town; the number of school districts in the 
town and the number of schools kept in each district; the 
amount of money spent in each school district for fuel, furniture, 
incidental expenses and instruction; the number of children, 
male and female, attending school and the average attendance; 
the time and season of keeping schools; the number, names 
and salaries of teachers; the branches taught and textbooks 
used in schools. The Secretary of State was ordered to furnish 
blanks for the reports required, and towns failing to report 
forfeited the right to participate in the distribution of state 
school money. Under this act and the general school law of 
1839, in which it was codified, statistics were collected from 
every town in the state from 1839 to 1845, when the Barnard 
school law made other provision for town school reports. 

In the following table attendance records for 1839, 1840 and 
1841 are presented, with the report for 19 towns in 1836 and 
Oliver Angell's attendance report for 1831 : 



ORGANIZATION OF A STATE SYSTEM. 



109 



School Attendance Records. 



1831. 1836. 



1839. 1840. 



1841. 



Barrington 113 

Bristol 275 

Burrillville 800 

Charlestown 500 

Coventry 900 

Cranston 550 

Cumberland 1,200 

East Greenwich 250 

Exeter 390 

Foster 1,197 

Glocester 510 

Hopkinton 550 

Jamestown 100 

Johnston 400 

Little Compton 215 

Middletown 210 

Newport 400 

New Shoreham 100 

North Kingstown 550 

North Providence 400 

Portsmouth 360 

Providence 1,150 

Richmond 225 

Scituate 680 

Smithfield \ 2,049 

South Kingstown j 360 

Tiverton .-. 600 



Warren 

Warwick 

Westerly 

West Greenwich. 



Totals . 



450 
698 



545 

604 

1,650 

450 



600 

655 

574 

30 



173 
324 



700 



255 
1,456 



1,213 



230, 


225 


1,040 


997 


400 


741 


300 . 





194 
320 
447 
246 
470 
407 
412 
209 
284 
619 
384 
478 
53 
333 
530 
200 
265 
200 
479 
463 
245 

1,753 
219 
734 

1,006 
645 
349 
133 
746 
477 
253 



141 
474 
588 
283 
653 
624 

1,088 
240 
389 
619 
602 
506 
94 
500 
522 
126 
636 
394 
481 
508 
326 

2,020 
273 
769 

1,134 
750 
968 
129 

1,261 
427 
327 



131 
485 
537 
265 
622 
675 

1,395 
244 
389 
633 
621 
522 
57 
434 
325 
190 
532 
518 
562 
671 
448 

3,396 
383 
886 

1,658 
750 
522 
164 

1,357 
730 
291 



17,034! 12,350 



13,748 17,752 



20,253 



The 12 towns that made no report in 1836 reported 4450 
pupils in 1839, and were credited with 4283 in 1831. If 4367, 
the number midway between 4283 and 4450, be selected as the 
probable attendance in these towns in 1836, the state total for 



110 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

that year becomes 16,717, and the range of attendance totals 
is 17,034 for 1831, 16,717 for 1836, 13,784 for 1839, 17,752 for 
1840, 20,253 for 1841. The increases in 1840 over 1839, and in 
1841 over 1840, appear entirely consistent with growth of 
population and the maiked increase in money available for 
school improvement after 1838 by distribution of the income 
of the United States deposit money. Half the increase in 1841 
over 1840 was in Providence, where a reorganization and im- 
provement of schools in 1839-40 resulted immediately in a 
larger enrollment of pupils. But the apparent decreases from 
1831 to 1836, and from 1836 to 1839, are inconsistent with growth 
of population and increased town appropriations for support of 
schools. A decline of interest in public schools after the 
enthusiasm of beginning must be serious in order to offset the 
influence of the two factors mentioned and produce the decline 
that the totals indicate. Three questions are suggested : 

1 . Are the figures accurate? 

2. Was there a decline of interest due to dissatisfaction with 
the school system? 

3. Was there an external social condition or cause for poor 
attendance at school? 

1. Are the figures accurate? Between the figures for 1836 
and those for 1839 preference for probable accuracy must lie 
with the latter, because they were reported by the school com- 
mittees of the several towns, whereas the figures for 1836 were 
returned by town clerks, who had no intimate connection with 
town school systems. The figures for 1836 from Bristol, Bunill- 
ville, Cumberland, East Greenwich, Glocester, North Kingstown, 
and perhaps Warren and Westerly are inconsistent with both 
Angell's report and the school committees' reports for 1839 and 
subsequently. The probable error, roughly calculated by 
comparison of reports, is close to 2000, which, if deducted, would 
reduce the probable total attendance for the state in 1836 to 
less than 15,000, say 14,900. 



ORGANIZATION OF A STATE SYSTEM. Ill 

As for Oliver Angell's figures for 1831, those for Burrillville, 
Coventry, Cranston, East Greenwich, Jamestown, North Provi- 
dence and Tiverton appear to be estimates reached by multi- 
plying the number of public schools by 50 ;* those for Exeter, 
Glocester and South Kingstown, estimates reached by multi- 
plying the number of public schools by 30; while those for 
Burrillville, Charlestown, Coventry, Foster and Smithfield 
appear out of proportion to all other reports. At least 2500 
should be deducted as probable error, making the total attend- 
ance for 1831, 14,500. 

With the caution that the "corrected" figures for 1831 and 
1836 are quite as much estimates and as likely to error as the 
figures they replace, the series of attendance totals becomes 
14,500 for 1831, 14,900 for 1836, 13,748 for 1839, 17,752 for 1840, 
and 20,253 for 1841. Population increased not quite 12 per 
cent, between 1830 and 1840. If the figures in the table are 
taken as accurate, there was an increase in school attendance 
from 1831 to 1840 of only 700 for the whole state, leaving for 
explanation a drop from 17,034 to 16,717 in 1836, and a fall to 
13,748 in 1839. If the figures as corrected are taken as more 
nearly indicating actual conditions, then there was a period of 
little progress from 1831 to 1839. Either hypothesis and con- 
clusion make the second and third questions relevant. 

2. Was there a decline of interest due to dissatisfaction with 
the school system? The most complete and intimate history 
of a Rhode Island town school system preserved is that of 
Providence. The free schools of Providence made no gain in 
attendance from 1800 to 1828; the attendance increased in 1828 
as a consequence of improvement in the grading of schools, and 
there was another marked gain in 1840-41, when further im- 
provement was undertaken. The report of Francis Way land 
in 1828, portions of which have been quoted, pointed out clearly 
that the free schools of Providence were insufficient to accom- 

♦Angell's figures are printed in Chapter II. 



112 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

modate all town children of school age; that the instruction was 
inefficient because of the large number of pupils assigned to 
each teacher; that the schools could be of advantage to only 
a small portion of the community, because they must inevitably, 
under all the circumstances, teach only a narrow content well, 
or an extended content poorly. 

The theory that a cause for dissatisfaction with the public 
schools lay in the schools is sustained by the following extract 
from a petition addressed to the city council of Providence by 
the Providence Association of Mechanics and Manufacturers in 

1837, in which the association asked for improved schools : 

"Your memorialists have been struck by one fact, to which they 
would respectfully solicit particular attention. It has been 
argued by some (and perhaps the argument has attracted the 
consideration of your honorable body) that the instruction of 
youth in the public schools is a heavy tax upon the middling 
classes, without an adequate return, as they do not participate 
in the benefit of this public instruction. This argument, which 
is evidently weighty in the present condition of these schools, 
would be destroyed if they were raised to the condition desired 
by your memorialists. Why is it that the middling classes do 
not become participants in this instruction? There is evi- 
dently but one reason. They perceive that the crowded state 
of the schools alone would prevent proper attention to the 
pupil; and they are aware that with the small sum which the 
instructors receive it is difficult to procure and retain the ser- 
vices of competent persons to fill the station. But let the 
schools be made so numerous that the scholars may receive as 
much attention as they do in the private schools, and let the 
salaries be so large as to induce men of equal ability to take 
charge of them, and that which is now considered a tax, would 
then be viewed as an alleviation of one of the heaviest burdens 
put upon the middling classes." 

Thus President Way land, in 1828, and the Providence Asso- 
ciation of Mechanics and Manufacturers, representing, as they 
said, "a large portion of the heads of families of the city," in 

1838, were in substantial agreement in the reasons they assigned 
for criticising the public schools. If the undisputed facts 
warranted such criticism of Providence, where schools were kept 



ORGANIZATION OF A STATE SYSTEM. 113 

12 months in the year by teachers whose tenure was secure and 
continuous, what might be said of rural towns and districts, 
where the average school term was three months, where teachers' 
salaries were smaller than in the city, where local municipal 
support of schools was less generous, where there must be a 
reorganization and a fresh beginning every winter, whither the 
schoolmaster might never return after a single term? There 
is no reason to believe that public schools in Rhode Island 
previous to 1840 were any better than the schools which Horace 
Mann found in Massachusetts in 1837, or, on the other hand, 
that the average Rhode Island school of the period was inferior 
to the average New England school at the same time. 

3. Was there an external social condition or cause for the want 
of increased attendance at school? The first cotton spinning in 
America was undertaken by Samuel Slater at Pawi,ucket in 
1790. The industry advanced slowly in its earlier years, but 
experienced a rapid development after the invention of the 
cotton gin, and in Rhode Island, particularly when the mer- 
chants of the state turned from the hazards of foreign commerce 
to the safer investment in factories and textile machinery. 
The wreck of the Ann and Hope on Block Island in 1806, and 
the total loss of the good ship and her cargo, and all the profits 
of a year's voyage, marked a turning point in the economic 
history of Rhode Island. Compact villages grew up close to 
the new factories built along the upper reaches of the turbulent 
rivers; the older boys and girls of the factory villages worked 
in the mills instead of attending schools. Not all manufact- 
urers were indifferent to this condition. Samuel Slater himself 
taught a secular Sunday school for children at Pawtucket. Other 
manufacturers erected schoolhouses near their factories, but 
the factories, nevertheless, in the absence of compulsory attend- 
ance laws, tended to lower school attendance. The industrial 
system in Rhode Island was an external cause for stagnation in 
school attendance. The winter school, which might attract the 



114 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

boys and girls of a farming community in the months when 
there was little work to do "about the place," was beyond the 
youthful operative in the factory, who worked all the year 
around. An attempt to remedy this condition was made in 
1840, when a state law was passed, declaring that no child under 
twelve years of age should be employed in any manufacturing 
establishment unless the child attended for three of the twelve 
months next preceding such employment some public or private 
day school where instruction was given in spelling, reading, 
writing and arithmetic. This law was left out of the revision 
of the statutes in 1844 with all other school laws, in anticipation 
of the enactment of a new school law to be drawn by Henry 
Barnard, and it was not codified in the revised school act which 
Henry Barnard wrote in 1844 and which the General Assembly 
passed the next year.* 

The years between 1828 and 1839 were critical years in the 
history of Rhode Island schools. The school act of 1828 pro- 
duced improvement immediately, but the appropriation of 
$10,000 annually was too meagre to assure continued progress. 
Consequently the schools maintained under the act of 1828, 
even when towns supplemented the state appropriation, were 
not of such a character as to attract that increasing attendance 
which is the surest index of public appreciation and satisfaction. 
At the same time there was a growth of manufacturing which 
operated as an external factor in decreasing school attendance. 
But that the schools themselves were at fault seems to be 
proved by the advance of nearly 50 per cent, in enrollment of 
pupils which followed immediately the increased state appro- 
priations under the acts of 1836 and 1839. More money then 
meant more schools, more scholars and better schools, as it has 
since. 

*The original draft of the Barnard act includes this law. 



ORGANIZATION OF A STATE SYSTEM. 115 

MORE MONEY AND IMPROVEMENT. 

The General Assembly, in October, 1836, authorized the 
General Treasurer to receive for Rhode Island the state's share 
in the distribution of the surplus revenue of the United States, 
under an act of Congress approved in June of the same year. 
The Assembly also ordered the money deposited in state banks 
paying five per cent, interest, and by law provided for the 
distribution of the income of the fund to the towns of the state, 
to be used exclusively for the support of public schools. Three 
installment payments, amounting altogether to $382,335.30, 
were received from the Federal Government. The deposit 
fund earned $1,358.35 up to April 30, 1837; $17,676.24 in 
1837-38, $18,991.14 in 1838-39, all of which, with the $10,000 
provided by the act of 1828, was apportioned to the towns. 
The school law of 1839 fixed the annual school appropriation at 
$25,000. 

Besides the increased enrollment and attendance which fol- 
lowed the distribution of larger state appropriations, other 
statistics indicate substantial improvement. The following 
table shows for the state the number of public schools, the 
number of public school teachers, the number of male pupils, 
the number of female pupils, the whole number of pupils, 
town expenditures for fuel, rent, etc., expenditures for instruc- 
tion, and the total expenditures for support of public schools 
in the years from 1839 to 1845, inclusive : 



116 



PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 





1839. 


1840. 


1841. 


1842. 


1843. 


1844. 


1845. 


Schools 


365 

427 

8,112 

5,636 


393 

481 

10,202 

7,550 


408 

495 

11,253 

9,000 


409 

465 

12,479 

9,372 


402 

482 

11,960 

8,132 


428 

515 

11,811 

10,345 


407 


Teachers 


495 


Male pupils 

Female pupils 


11,386 
9,710 


Total pupils 

Expenditures : 

Instruction 


13,784 

$2,972 
32,383 


17,752 

$4,104 
36,096 


20,253 

$6,313 
40,516 


21,851 

$5,482 
39,088 


20,092 

$5,899 
42,944 


22,156 

$5,405 
48,336 


20,096 

$5,165 

48,444 


Total expenditures . . 


35,355 


40,200 


46,829 


44,570 


48,843 


53,741 


53,609 



Another Advance in Providence. — In Providence the Associa- 
tion of Mechanics and Manufacturers petitioned the city council 
for better school facilities in 1837, referring to the act of 1836, as 
follows : 

" Your memorialists are convinced that the present is the time 
to commence this work of reform. The amount that will be 
received from the government and devoted to education will 
considerably alleviate the expense at the outset, and the in- 
habitants of the city are now so well convinced of the necessity 
of effort that any appropriation for this object would no doubt 
meet with their approbation." 

The memorialists suggested the establishment of a grade of 
schools between the primary and writing schools "for reading, 
writing and arithmetic only, the design of which is to give a 
thorough instruction in these branches to those children whose 
parents need their services at as early an age as 12 or 13 years, 
and who under the present arrangement are compelled to leave 
school with a very superficial knowledge of these branches, 
which are so necessary for obtaining a livelihood in any busi- 
ness." "Intermediate" schools of the kind described in the 
petition were subsequently established in the city, but the 
immediate action of the city council was even more liberal than 
had been prayed for. 



ORGANIZATION OF A STATE SYSTEM. 117 

The city council, on April 8, 1838, adopted an ordinance pro- 
viding for a high school, six grammar schools and writing schools, 
and ten primary schools; and, most important from the view- 
point of administration and efficiency, the appointment of a 
superintendent of schools — one of the first officers of the kind in 
America. A committee of the city council was instructed to 
visit the schoolhouses of the city and examine them; the com- 
mittee reported that "all were unfit for use in their present 
condition, and were all either too small, too dilapidated or too 
badly constructed to be worth repairing." 

The city thereupon undertook the building of new schools, 
the movement continuing six years. A high school building, 
which cost $21,572.87, was constructed; it is the substantial 
brick building on Benefit street which subsequently to use as a 
high school housed the Rhode Island Normal School for a 
generation, and is now occupied by the Rhode Island Supreme 
Court. Six grammar schools were built at an average cost of 
$10,463.22, and six primary schools, at an average cost of 
$1,865.60. That the era of large schools had not passed in 
Providence, however, is shown by the floor plans of these build- 
ings, schoolrooms in which provided seats for 120 primary or 
intermediate pupils, and 225 grammar pupils. Two recitation 
rooms were provided with each grammar room. Not until 
1857 was a change to smaller rooms made, upon the urgent 
recommendation of Superintendent Leach. 

Nathan Bishop was appointed Superintendent of Schools 
July 23, 1839, and entered upon his duties August 1, 1839. 
Women teachers replaced the ushers in the grammar schools, 
as the latter resigned and retired, between 1836 and 1839. The 
new high school was opened in 1843. 

The enterprise of Providence proved to be an influential 
factor in arousing the state to undertake the great survey of 
1843-45, and the improvements which followed it. 



118 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

THE SCHOOL LAW OF 1839. 

A general school law enacted in 1839 was a codification and 
an ampler statement of existing law rather than an innovation. 
It provided for : 

1. An annual school appropriation of $25,000, to be appor- 
tioned to the towns in proportion to population under 15 years 
of age.— This was a decrease, because since 1836 the appropria- 
tion had been $10,000, plus the income of the United States 
deposit fund. It was, however, a fortunate provision, because 
the income of the deposit fund was uncertain, and the fund 
itself was liable to recall. 

2. Application of lottery and auction revenue to repayment 
of the state's debt to the permanent school fund, and after 
repayment to its increase. — In the 11 years from 1828, $53,- 
402.20 had been invested for the fund in bank stocks, the par 
value of which was $51,300. The state owed the fund the 
uninvested balance of the revenue appropriated for the fund 
in 1828, amounting to $15,773.33. 

3. Permissible town taxation for support of public schools, 
limited, as in the act of 1828, to double the amount of the money 
received from the state; there was no minimum requirement. — 
This was actually an advance in the permissible maximum from 
$20,000 to $50,000. It changed the limits of state-town school 
money, from $10,000-30,000 annually to $25,000-75,000 
annually. 

4. Exclusive use of state school money for payment for 
instruction, and not for room rent, fuel or any other purpose 
whatsoever. — In subsequent acts this appropriation was desig- 
nated "teachers' money." The section as it stood in the act of 
1839 would have forced towns to supplement the state appro- 
priation to the extent of paying at least incidental charges. 
Later in 1839 the law was modified by an act which permitted 
school committees, where towns made no provision for in- 
cidental expenses, to assess for school expenses the parents or 
guardians of pupils by rate bills. Payment of tuition in the 
form of a fuel bill was abolished in Providence in 1833; rate 
bills were discontinued by other towns from time to time, and 
were forbidden by statute in 1868. 

5. Reports and certificates that school money had been 
used in compliance with law. 

6. Town school committees of 5 to 30 residents with power: 

1 . To make regulations and rules for the government of schools. 

2. To suspend or expel scholars for misconduct. 3. To 
determine the location of schoolhouses or schools. 4. To fill 



ORGANIZATION OF A STATE SYSTEM. 119 

vacancies in the committee caused by death, resignation or 
removal. 5. To appoint teachers, taking care that they be of 
good moral character, temperate and otherwise well qualified 
for the office. 6. To dismiss teachers in case of inability or 
misconduct. 7. To visit all schools at least once every three 
months, and to superintend, watch over and provide for the 
well ordering and governing of the same. 8. To allow and 
certify all accounts. 9. To report to the annual town meeting. 
10. To report school statistics* to the Secretary of State an- 
nually. 11. To hold quarterly meetings in January, April, 
July and October. 12. To apportion state school money 
among the different schools and school districts. 13. To deter- 
mine the number of schools to be kept per district. 14. To 
send school children to schools in adjacent towns, if more 
convenient, and pay tuition for them. 

7. Corporate powers for (1) school districts, (2) school 
societies of five members or more, and (3) library associations. 

8. Union school districts, to be made up of contiguous dis- 
tricts in adjoining towns, for the purpose of keeping a union 
district school. 

The new features of the act, wherein it was an advance over 
the act of 1828 were (1) an increased fixed appropriation for 
support of public schools, (2) clearer definition of specific powers 
of school committees, (3) provision for the annual collection of 
school statistics, and (4) general corporate powers for districts, 
school societies and libraries. 

School committees, by act of 1842, were required to examine, 
personally or by committee, and to ascertain the qualifications 
and capacity for the government of schools of all instructors 
employed in their respective towns; no person could be legally 
employed to teach in any public school without a certificate of 
examination and qualification. This act did not apply to 
Providence, North Providence and Smithfield. 

Special acts from 1839 to 1845 permitted the school com- 
mittee of Providence to meet at times to suit its convenience; 
permitted Little Compton and Portsmouth to elect school com- 
mittees at times other than that specified by the general law; 
permitted various towns to make belated reports required by law 

♦These statistics were essentially the same as those mentioned above. 



120 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

without forfeiture of school money; authorized various school 
districts in North Providence, Tiverton, Exeter, Coventry, 
Johnston, North Kingstown, Scituate and Foster, and all 
districts in Glocester, South Kingstown, North Providence, 
Burrillville and Tiverton to build and repair schoolhouses ; 
adjusted various disputes as to taxation, and legalized irregular 
elections and actions of school committees in vaiious towns. 

A STATE SCHOOL COMMITTEE. 

School enrollment increased from 13,748 in 1839 to 20,253 in 
1841, a gain of almost 50 per cent, in two years, coincident with 
improvement due to increased appropriations. From 1841 to 
1845 there was no gain, the totals for the state being 20,253 in 
1841, 21,851 in 1842, 20,092 in 1843, 22,156 in 1844 and 20,096 
in 1845. Fluctuation in the attendance of girl pupils was 
sufficient to produce the variation in totals. School attendance 
in the period increased in Providence, under the influence of 
the continued improvement there, but otherwise, generally, the 
state was marking time and scarcely holding the advance gained 
in 1839-1841. A law requiring children under 12 employed in 
factories to attend school three months a year had little appre- 
ciable influence upon school enrollment, if, indeed, the law was 
observed or its enforcement attempted. The act itself pro- 
vided none of the machinery necessary for making it effective. 

The example of Providence, then carrying forward its — for 
the times — almost munificent project of building new school- 
houses was stimulating, but improvement elsewhere came 
about, not through imitation upon the initiative of the towns, 
but through legislation and the initiative of the General Assem- 
bly, which became under the Constitution of 1842 a state school 
committee. Fortunately for Rhode Island no question of 
school policy was involved in the political controversy of long 
standing, which in 1842 reached a crisis in the Dorr war. 
Thomas Wilson Dorr, leader of the party which demanded 



OKGANIZATION OF A STATE SYSTEM. 121 

manhood suffrage without the restrictions of* freemanship im- 
posed by the charter government, as a member of the General 
Assembly in 1836 and as a member of the first legislative com- 
mittee on education of which there is record, presented the law 
which appropriated the income of the United States deposit 
fund to school support, and led the successful battle for its 
enactment. He was a member of the school committee of 
Providence from 1838 to 1842, succeeding Mayor Bridgham as 
President of the committee in 1841. Throughout the period of 
his membership he was an influential and active advocate of 
many of the reforms which cariied the schools of the city to a 
condition of efficiency which elicited this praise from Henry 
Barnard in 1845: "The city of Providence has already gained 
to itself an extended reputation and made itself a bright example 
to many other cities." 

The Dorr Agitation. — The People's Constitution of 1841-42, 
under which Dorr was elected Governor April 18, 1842, con- 
tained an uncompromising declaration favoring public educa- 
tion and "free schools."* The Landholders' Constitution of 
1841-42, drafted by a convention in which the opponents of 
Dorr were in control, contained a declaration as uncompro- 
misingly favoring public education and "public schools. "f 
For purposes of comparison, the sections of the two Constitutions 
dealing with education and schools are printed in parallel 
columns : 

* People's Constitution. — The diffusion of t Landholder's Constitution. — Article 

knowledge, and the cultivation of a sound XII. — Of Education. — Sec. 1. The diffu- 

morality in the fear of God being of the sion of knowledge, as well as of virtue, 

first importance in a republican State, and among the people being essential to the 

indispensable to the maintenance of its preservation of their rights and liberties, it 

liberty, it shall be an imperative duty of the shall be the duty of the General Assembly 

Legislature to promote the establishment to promote public schools and to adopt all 

of free schools and to assist in the support other means to secure to the people the 

of public education. — Declaration of Rights advantages and opportunities of education 

and Principles, No. 5. which they may deem necessary and 

Article XII. — Of Education. — Sec. 1. proper. 

All moneys which now are or may hereafter Sec. 2. The money which now is, or 

be appropriated by the authority of the which hereafter may be appropriated by 

state to public education shall be securely law for the formation of a permanent fund 



122 



PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 



The People's Constitution was the earlier document. A 
mass meeting of the people of the state, held in Providence, May 
5, 1841, appointed a state committee. On July 5, 1841, the 
state committee was directed to call a convention for the pur- 
pose of framing a constitution. Delegates were elected August 
8, 1841, and met in convention in the State House in Provi- 
dence, October 4, 1841. On November 18, 1841, the People's 
Constitution was adopted by this convention ; it was submitted 
to the people, freemen and non-freemen, December 27, 28 and 
29, 1841, for ratification. It was ratified by a vote of 13,444 
to 52, and proclaimed January 13, 1842. Dorr was elected 
Governor under its provisions April 18, 1842, but his attempt 
to assume the prerogatives of his office was suppressed by the 
charter government. 

The Landholders' Constitution was framed by a convention 
which was called puisuant to authority of the General Assembly, 



invested and remain a perpetual fund for 
the maintenance of free schools in this 
state; and the General Assembly shall be 
prohibited from diverting said moneys or 
fund from this use, and from borrowing, 
appropriating or using the same, or any 
part thereof for any purpose, or under any 
pretence whatsoever. But the income de- 
rived from said moneys or fund shall be 
annually paid over by the General Treas- 
urer to the towns and cities of the state for 
the support of said schools, in equitable 
proportions; provided, however, that a 
portion of said income may, in the discretion 
of the General Assembly, be added to the 
principal of said fund. 

Sec. 2. The several towns and cities 
shall faithfully devote their portions of said 
annual distribution to the support of free 
schools, and, in default thereof, shall forfeit 
their shares in the same to the increase of 
the fund. 

Sec. 3. All charitable donations for the 
support of free schools and other purposes 
of public education shall be received by the 
General Assembly, and invested and applied 
agreeably to the forms prescribed by the 
donors, provided the same be not incon- 
sistent with the Constitution or with sound 
public policy, in which case the donation 
shall not be received. 



for the support of public schools shall be 
securely invested and remain a perpetual 
fund for that purpose. 

Sec. 3. All donations for the support of 
public schools, or for other purposes of 
education which shall be received by the 
General Assembly shall be applied accord- 
ing to the terms prescribed by the donors. 

Sec. 4. The General Assembly shall 
make all necessary provision by law for 
carrying this article into effect. They 
are prohibited from diverting said moneys 
or fund from the aforesaid uses, and from 
borrowing, appropriating or using the 
same, or any part thereof, under any pre- 
tence whatsoever. 



ORGANIZATION OF A STATE SYSTEM. 123 

by vote of February 6, 1841. The convention met in Provi- 
dence, November 11, 1841, and at an adjourned meeting, 
February 18, 1842, adopted the Landholders' Constitution. 
The freemen rejected this constitution March 21, 22 and 23, 
1842, by a vote of 8013 for and 8689 against. 

Constitutional Provision for Schools.— -Not less significant than 
the declaration for free schools as against public schools was the 
sweeping provision in the People's Constitution for the con- 
servation of public money pledged to the support of public 
schools. The Landholders' Constitution safeguarded merely 
the permanent school fund established by the act of 1828, and 
donations for the support of public schools and public educa- 
tion. The People's Constitution reached beyond the per- 
menent school fund to "all moneys which now are, or may here- 
after be, appropriated by the authority of the state to public 
education." It ordered applied to school support or the increase 
of the permanent school fund, the income which the state 
derived from lotteries and auction duties, as well as the entire 
income of the United States deposit fund. Moreoever, it 
forbade borrowing from the deposit fund, a practice begun by 
the state in 1840. In the course of events which followed 
rapidly in 1842, the United States deposit fund furnished a war 
chest for the charter government for suppressing the Dorr 
movement, $107,000 being taken therefrom in 1842-43. Thus 
Rhode Island history presents an unusual instance of use for 
his own destruction at the hands of his enemies of a fund which 
a statesman had labored to preserve intact. 

A third constitutional convention met at East Greenwich 
November 5, 1842, and framed the present State Constitution, 
which the freemen, qualified by law to vote, ratified November 
21, 22 and 23, 1842, by a vote of 7032 to 59. This constitution 
contained an article entitled "Of Education," which in phrase- 
ology varied but slightly from article XII of the Landholders' 



124 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

Constitution.* The granting of lotteries was forbidden, thus 
abolishing the most productive source of school revenue under 
the act of 1828. The constitution presciibed a voluntary 
registry tax of one dollar per annum to be paid by citizens, other 
than qualified taxpayers, who wished to vote. The registry 
tax was the forerunner of the present poll tax, and like the poll 
tax, was appropriated by the Constitution to the support of 
public schools. In 1844 the General Assembly perfected the 
registry tax provision of the Constitution by an act which 
directed town treasurers to transfer to the town school account 
annually the proceeds of the registry tax. 

The State Constitution of 1842, therefore, abolished one 
source of school revenue and substituted another for it. Of no 
less importance, it made the General Assembly a state school 
committee, whose duty it was "to promote public schools and 
to adopt all means that they may deem necessary and proper 
to secure to the people the advantages and opportunities of 
education." This provision of the fundamental law was 
speedily exercised by the first General Assembly elected under 
the new Constitution. The action taken at the October session 
of the General Assembly was the beginning of a complete 
reorganization of the school system. The year 1843 thus 
became one of the most notable in Rhode Island history; it 



* The text of the article on education fund for the support of public schools shall 

follows : be securely invested and remain a per- 

Article XII. petual fund for that purpose. 

Or Education. Sec - 3 ' Ml donation8 for the support 
of public schools, or for other purposes 

Sec. 1. The diffusion of knowledge, as f education which may be received by 

well as of virtue, among the people being the General Assembly shall be applied 

essential to the preservation of their rights according to the terms prescribed by the 

and liberties, it shall be the duty of the donors. 

General Assembly to promote public Sec _ 4 _ The General Assembly shall 

schools and to adopt all other means which make all necessary provision by law for 

they may deem necessary and proper to carrying this article into effect. They 

secure to the people the advantages and s hall not divert said money or fund from 

opportunities of education. tne aforesaid uses, nor borrow, appropriate 

Sec. 2. The money which now is, or or use the same, or any part thereof, for 

which may hereafter be appropriated by any other purpose, under any pretence 

law for the establishment of a permanent whatsoever. 



ORGANIZATION OF A STATE SYSTEM. 125 

marks the bediming of government under a Constitution and 
the inauguration of a reform which substituted, eventually, a 
state system of public schools for the town system established 
under the law of 1828. 

WILKINS UPDIKE— FORERUNNER OF HENRY 
BARNARD. 

At the October session of the General Assembly in 1843, 
Wilkins Updike, Esq., Representative from South Kingstown, 
introduced a bill, the text of which follows : 

"It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows : 

"Sec. 1. The Governor of this state shall employ some 
suitable person as agent, for the purposes hereafter mentioned, 
at a reasonable compensation for his services. 

"Sec. 2. The said agent shall visit and examine the respec- 
tive public schools in this state; ascertain the length of time 
each district school is kept, and at what season of the year, the 
qualifications of the respective teachers of said schools, the 
mode of instruction therein; collect information of the actual 
condition and efficiency of our public schools and other means 
of popular education, and diffuse as widely as possible among the 
people a knowledge of the most approved and successful 
methods of arranging the studies and conducting the education 
of the young, to the end that the children of the state who 
depend upon common schools for instruction may have the 
best education that those schools may be made to impart; and 
shall make report to the Legislature with such observations 
and reflections as experience may suggest, upon the condition 
and efficiency of our system of popular education, and the 
most practicable means of improving the same. 

"Sec. 3. It shall be the duty of the preceptors of the public 
schools m the respective districts in this state, from time to 
time, to furnish said agent with all the information he may 
require, in order to enable him to carry out the provisions of 
this act." 

After an explanation by Mr. Updike* his bill was passed 
unanimously by both houses of the General Assembly. Governor 

* The Providence Journal of November 2, He exposed very ably and very clearly the 

1843. reported Mr. Updike's speech in insufficiency of free schools in most of the 

support of his bill as follows : towns in this state when compared with the 

Mr. Updike presented an act relating to amount of the appropriation by the state, 

the state of the free schools in this state. There was no uniform system of teaching, 



126 



PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 



Fenner appointed Henry Barnard as State School Agent to 
make the survey provided for in the act. 

Wilkins Updike, father of the great survey of 1843-45, lived to 
see the undertaking of which he was the prophet carried forward 
to completion in the reorganization of the public school system. 
He was a staunch and able supporter of the Barnard school bill 
in 1844 and 1845. His death in 1867 was memorialized by the 



no suitable boards for examination of 
teachers, no uniform set. of class books, not 
only throughout the state, but even in the 
same district. Each succeeding master 
differs from the former, and there is no 
sort of uniform system in the teaching in 
the same schoolhouse. The necessity of 
normal schools, for the education of teach- 
ers, is apparent to the most superficial 
observer. One man, one winter, teaches 
from one set of books, and the next teacher 
requires an altogether different set of books. 
As soon as the children begin to learn in 
one way, they are required to unlearn that, 
and begin another. The teachers should 
first be taught, and then, when they have 
learned the science of teaching, they should 
be allowed to begin teaching, but not till 
then. In other states, where such normal 
schools are established, persons who form- 
erly taught have gone to them in order to 
learn the science of teaching. There should 
also be boards of commissioners to examine 
these teachers and decide upon their moral 
and intellectual qualifications. If these 
institutions were properly settled, and a 
uniform system of education established 
throughout the state, the value of the 
appropriation would be more than doubled. 

Mr. Updike went at length into the 
various systems of education in the neigh- 
boring states, and passed a deserved 
eulogium on the system of the city of 
Providence. 

Mr. Updike enlarged upon the benefit 
which would result to the youth of this state 
from a uniform and general system of educa- 
tion. An instance had lately come to his 
knowledge, in a conversation with a member 
of the school committee of the city of Provi- 
dence, which developed clearly the value of 
the system in that city, and the imperfec- 
tions of those in the towns. A woman, the 
wife of a farmer in one of the northern towns, 
had moved to Providence and opened a 
boarding house, while her husband re- 



mained at home and cultivated the farm. 
She stated that she had a large family and 
that she had removed to the city for the 
purpose of procuring for her children the 
advantages of free schools, which are 
equal to any of their kind in the country. 
If the same system were extended over the 
state ; if the same acquirements were 
deemed necessary for teachers, and the 
same supervision held by competent men 
over the government and management of 
the schools, who can estimate the moral and 
intellectual benefits which would result to 
coming generations? Children invariably 
copy and imitate their teachers; they con- 
form to their moral habits and aspire to 
their intellectual acquirements. Suppose, 
then, that teachers, with all the requisite 
qualities and acquirements, who had been 
instructed in the science of teaching, should 
be placed over the district schools six or 
seven months in the year, what incalculable 
blessings would flow from it! How much 
would they promote the taste for learning 
and raise the standard for intellectual 
acquirement. 

He had long been of the opinon that a 
board of education should be established 
in this state, and that by their wise and 
enlightened regulations the value of the 
free school establishment would be more 
than doubled. Look at the workings of the 
system of Connecticut, Massachusetts and 
New Hampshire; their schools do not 
flourish in the large towns alone, but are 
scattered on the same wise and impartial 
basis throughout the small villages, and the 
scattered country districts. Wherever 
their beneficent provisions extend (and 
they are felt in every school district) there 
is to be found a teacher instructed in his 
science, capable of teaching the youth en- 
trusted to his charge, and of disseminating 
a taste of learning among all with whom he 
associates. He is appointed by a com- 
petent board, whose reputation for knowl- 



ORGANIZATION OF A STATE SYSTEM. 



127 



General Assembly in resolutions that failed to mention perhaps 
his greatest service to his state. The resolutions follow : 

"Whereas the General Assembly has learned with sorrow of 
the death of the Honorable Wilkins Updike of Kingston, for 
many years a prominent member of this body; therefore, 

"Resolved, That we desire to inscribe upon the record some 
memorial of our respect for this old-fashioned gentleman, this 
vigorous and honest legislator, this hospitable and warm 
hearted citizen. 



edge and discretion is high among the 
people. The teacher, therefore, receives 
and deserves a confidence which an inex" 
perienced teacher cannot acquire. [Per- 
haps Mr. Updike's somewhat exaggerated 
praise of other systems was justified by the 
importance of the occasion. The comment 
is the author's.] 

One small town in New Hampshire, said 
Mr. Updike, has sent forth twelve dis- 
tinguished men to different professions and 
the councils of its own and other states. 
What a comment is this upon the taste for 
learning diffused by means of proper 
schools. 

The act which he proposed directed an 
inquiry into the management of our free 
schools, with a view to further action when 
the report of a committee should make 
known what action was needed. He hoped 
all would enter into this matter with the 
interest which it deserved, and that the 
future action of the Assembly should place 
the free school system upon such a basis as 
to insure a healthy and beneficial system of 
education. 

Another version of Wilkins Updike's 
address appeared in Henry Barnard's re- 
port for 1845 : 

"The free school system as it then 
existed was not a blessing to the state ex- 
cept in the city of Providence, and possibly 
a few other towns, where a similar course 
was pursued. This was not owing to the 
want of liberal appropriation from the 
General Treasury. This was large enough, 
or at least, was larger than was made by 
any other state to the several towns. But 
the difficulty lay with the towns and with 
the want of any thorough system for the 
examination of teachers, the regulation of 
books and supervision of schools by officers 
qualified to discharge these duties. Our 
teachers come from abroad, are employed to 
teach without producing evidence either 
of moral character or their fitness to teach, 



remain in the schools two or three months, 
and within 24 hours of the close of the 
term are gone to parts unknown. The 
books for our schools are selected by 
authors and publishers, or itinerant ven- 
ders, and all that parents have to do about 
the matter is to get new books every year, 
and pay the bills. As to visiting schools, 
who ever heard of committees going about 
into the different districts, or of parents 
being seen in the schoolroom? These 
things should be looked into. The Legis- 
lature should know what becomes of the 
sum of $25,000 which is drawn annually 
from the General Treasury. The people 
should have their attenton called to the 
actual state of education among us. Our 
self-respect should be aroused by a knowl- 
edge of the fact brought out by the last 
census of the United States, from which it 
appeared that Rhode Island is behind the 
other New England states in this matter. 
With a population of 108,830 we have over 
1600 adults who cannot read or write, 
while Connecticut, with a population of 
309,978, has only 526. The other New 
England states not only educate their own 
teachers, lawyers, doctors and clergymen, 
but help to supply our demand for these 
classes of men. It is time to bestir our- 
selves in this matter. We need not act 
with precipitation. All that this bill pro- 
vides for is information as to the real state 
of things, and upon such information the 
Legislature and the people can act under- 
standing^. Pass this bill, sustain the 
agent who may be appointed, act upon his 
recommendations when they are sustained 
by facts and sound arguments, engraft upon 
our system the tried improvements of other 
states, enlist the whole people in this great 
work of elevating the schools where all the 
children of the state may be well educated, 
and this little bill of three sections will be 
the beginning of a new era in our legislation 
on the subject of education." 



128 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

"Resolved, That in the death of Honorable Wilkins Updike 
has passed away from earth almost the last of a generation of 
true Rhode Island men, worthy of our respect and imitation 
in the walks of public and private life." 

A BRIEF SUMMARY. 

The progress of Rhode Island schools from organization in a 
state system under the act of 1828 to reorganization under the 
Constitution of 1843, may be summarized briefly as follows: 

1. In 1828 an awakened statewide interest in schools 
resulted in (1) a state appropriation of $10,000 annually for 
support of town public schools, (2) the beginning of a perma- 
nent school fund, and (3) in Providence, where free schools had 
been established in 1800, a reorganization, a grading of schools 
and a gain of 25 per cent, in attendance. 

2. The state appropriation stimulated general improvement 
in schools throughout the state, as proved by an unprejudiced 
survey undertaken by citizens of Providence in 1831. 

3. The years of improvement were followed by a period of 
stagnation and reaction, in which little or no further progress 
was made. In the critical years school attendance failed to 
increase proportionately to population. 

4. Careful investigation and analysis of conditions disclosed 
in the quality of the public schools a reason for retarded im- 
provement. The industrial organization of the state proved 
detrimental to increased attendance. 

5. An increase in state school appropriations after 1836, as 
the income of the United States deposit fund became available, 
produced (1) improvement throughout the state generally, 
shown by an increase in attendance of nearly 50 per cent., and 
(2) in Providence still another advance, involving (a) a further 
grading of schools, (b) rebuilding of schoolhouses, and (c) the 
appointment of a superintendent of schools. 

6. In 1842 Rhode Island adopted a Constitution, which 
made the General Assembly a state school committee, whose 
duty it is to advance education. 

7. The example of Providence and the excellence of the city 
public schools attracted the attention of the General Assembly. 
Wilkins Updike introduced a bill calling for a state school 
survey by an expert. The bill was passed unanimously. 

8. Henry Barnard, appointed agent and afterward Com- 
missioner of Public Schools, guided the state to a reorganization 
of the public school system. 



CHAPTER IV. 



SURVEY AND REORGANIZATION. 



The school survey is not a modern invention, much as the 
term has come to be associated almost exclusively with the 
twentieth century. Horace Mann's labors in Massachusetts 
amounted to a survey, but Horace Mann was not an educational 
expert when he accepted office. Rhode Island inaugurated a 
thorough survey of the most approved modern type when 
Governor James Fenner selected for the work outlined in Wilkins 
Updike's bill an educational expert from beyond the state's 
borders — Henry Barnard, without question the foremost Ameri- 
can educator of the nineteenth century. Governor Fenner 
announced the appointment of Henry Barnard as state school 
agent in the following proclamation: 

"To the people of Rhode Island : 

"In pursuance of an act to provide for ascertaining the con- 
dition of the public schools of this state, and for the improvement 
and better management thereof, I have secured the services of 
Henry Barnard, who has had several years experience in the 
discharge of similar duties in a neighboring state, and observed 
the workings of various systems of public instruction in this 
country and in Europe. 

"Mr. Barnard will enter immediately on the duties of his 
office. His great object will be to collect and disseminate in 
every practicable way information respecting existing defects 
and desirable improvements in the organization and adminis- 
tration of our school system, and to awaken, enlighten and 
elevate public sentiment in relation to the whole system of 
public education. With this view he will visit all parts of the 
state and ascertain by personal inspection and inquiries of 
teachers, school committees and others, the actual condition of 
the schools, with their various and deeply interesting statistical 
details. He will meet in every town, if practicable, such persons 



130 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

as are disposed to assemble together, for the purpose of stating 
facts, views and opinions on the condition and improvement of 
the schools, and the more complete and thorough education of 
the people. He will invite oral and written communications 
from teachers, school committees and all others interested in 
the subject, respecting their plans and suggestions for advancing 
the intellectual and moral improvement of the rising and all 
future generations in the state. The result of his labors and 
inquiries will be communicated in a report to the General 
Assembly. 

"In the prosecution of labors so delicate, difficult and ex- 
tensive Mr. Barnard will need the sympathy and co-operation 
of every citizen of the state. With the most cordial approval 
of the object of the Legislature and entire confidence in the 
ability, experience and zeal of the gentleman whom I have 
selected to carry it out, I commend both to the encouragement 
and aid of all who love the state and would promote her true 
and durable good, however discordant their opinions may be 
on other subjects. "JAMES FENNER. 

"December 6, 1843." 

WHAT THE SURVEY DISCLOSED. 

Henry Barnard's earlier reports were made orally to the 
General Assembly, which as a state school committee called 
him into conference as its expert adviser. His first printed 
report recapitulated his work for two years; it was almost 
encyclopaedic in detail, and presented a thoroughly organized 
review of his methods and activities. He visited every section 
of Rhode Island, inspected schoolhouses, examined and ques- 
tioned teachers, consulted with school officers, conducted and 
addressed public meetings, one of which was held within three 
miles of every home in the state. He drafted school legislation 
to remedy the defects which he found, and he conducted in 
every town and district of the state a "school revival meeting," 
knowing full well that law becomes effective only when enacted 
with the consent of the people, and when the sympathy of the 
people is enlisted in its enforcement. 

Barnard's Methods. — He used four methods of ascertaining 
school conditions, (1) personal inspection and inquiry, (2) 



SURVEY AND REORGANIZATION. 131 

circular questionnaires addressed to teachers and school com- 
mittees, (3) official returns and reports, (4) statements in public 
meetings. To arouse interest and inform the general public 
and prepare the way for a more complete and efficient school 
system, he adopted these measures: (1) Public lectures, (2) 
conversations and written communications, (3) circulation of 
tracts, periodicals and documents, (4) the establishment of an 
educational library of at least 30 volumes in every town, (5) 
formation of associations for the improvement of public schools, 
(6) assistance to school committees in selecting teachers, (7) 
encouragement of more extensive employment of women 
teachers, as better suited for elementary school teaching and 
reducing the cost of instruction almost one-half, (8) advocating 
and introducing graded schools in manufacturing and other 
populous districts, (9) organizing teachers' associations, (10) 
establishing an itinerant normal school agenc}^, (11) preparing 
the way for the establishment of at least one normal school for 
teacher training, (12) devising and making known improved 
plans for schoolhouse construction, (13) encouraging the pur- 
chase and aiding in the selection of school apparatus and school 
libraries, (14) encouraging lyceums, lecture courses and library 
associations, (15) preparing the draft of a school act. 

" During the five years of service of Mr. Barnard," wrote Rev. 
E. M. Stone, historian of the Rhode Island Institute of In- 
struction, "more than 1100 meetings were held expressly to 
discuss topics connected with public schools, at which upwards 
of 1500 addresses were delivered One hundred and fifty of 
these meetings continued through the day and evening, upwards 
of 100 through two evenings and a day, 50 through two days 
and three evenings, and 12, including teachers' institutes, 
through the entire week. In addition to this class of meetings 
and addresses, upwards of 200 meetings for teachers and 
parents were held for lectures and examination of schools. 
Besides these various meetings, experienced teachers were em- 
ployed to visit particular towns and sections of the state and 
converse freely with parents on the condition and improvement 
of the public schools. In this way a meeting was held within 
three miles of every home in Rhode Island. In addition to all 



132 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

this, more than 16,000 educational pamphlets and tracts were 
distributed gratuitously through the state, and one year no 
almanac was sold in Rhode Island without at least 16 pages of 
educational reading attached. This statement does not include 
the official documents published by the state, nor the Journal 
of the Institute, nor upwards of 1200 bound volumes on teaching 
purchased by teachers or added to public or school libraries. 
Before Mr. Barnard left the state a library of at least 500 
volumes had been secured in 29 out of 32 towns." 

Henry Barnard found the organization of the public school 
system weak, largely because school committees had not at 
command the resources necessary for a vigorous exercise of 
powers conferred upon them by law. Although he introduced 
a district school system that clothed the district trustee— a 
new officer in Rhode Island — with large executive and adminis- 
trative powers, thus weakening somewhat the status of school 
committees, he advocated a gradual abolition of the district 
system and the substitution for it of a thoroughly organized 
town school system. This reform required sixty years for com- 
plete accomplishment in Rhode Island. 

Physical Condition of Schools.— Of the number and condition 
of schoolhouses in the state Henry Barnard reported that "405 
schoolhouses were required, whereas but 312 were provided. 
Of these 29 were owned by towns, 147 by proprietors and 145 
by school districts. Of 280 schoolhouses from which full returns 
were received, including those in Providence, 25 were in very 
good repair, 62 were in ordinary repair, and 86 were pronounced 
totally unfit for school purposes;* 65 were located in the public 
highway, 180 directly on the line of the road, without any 
yard or outbuildings attached, and but 21 had a playground 
attached. In over 200 schoolhouses the average height was 
less than eight feet, without any opening in the ceiling or any 

*Compare Horace Mann's report (1846) : "In 1837 not one-third of the public school- 
houses of Massachusetts would have been considered tenantable by any decent family out 
of the poorhouse or in it." And see Young's report (New York, 1844) : "One-third only 
of the whole number of schoolhouses visited were found in good repair, another third in 
ordinary and comfortable condition only in this respect — in other words, barely sufficient 
for the convenience and accommodation of the teacher and pupils, while the remainder, 
consisting of 3319, were to all intents and purposes unfit for the reception of man or beast." 



SURVEY AND REORGANIZATION. 133 

other effectual means of ventilation. . . . Two hundred 
and seventy schools were unfurnished with a clock, blackboard 
or thermometer, and only five were provided with a scraper and 
mat for the feet." He found the schoolhouses (1) too small and 
not appropriately fitted up, (2) badly lighted, (3) improperly 
ventilated, (4) imperfectly warmed, (5) supplied with desks and 
seats which were crude and unsuited to physical needs and 
convenience of pupils, (6) wanting the ordinary accessories, 
such as blackboards, clocks, maps, thermometers and other 
apparatus and fixtures which are indispensable to well-regulated 
and well-instructed schools, and (7) deficient in arrangements 
"which help to promote habits of order and neatness, and 
cultivate delicacy of manners and refinement of feeling." In 
some distri cts apartments in old shops or dwellings were used as 
schoolrooms. In many instances districts paid to the pro- 
prietors rents that exceeded the interest on the cost of new 
and improved schoolhouses. 

To remedy these conditions, the General Assembly, in Jan- 
uary, 1844, empowered school districts to purchase, secure, 
hold and convey land for schoolhouses; to build, hire and repair 
school buildings; to equip schoolhouses with furniture, appara- 
tus and blackboards, and to levy and collect taxes for these 
purposes. At the October session in the same year the School 
Agent was authorized to prepare, print and distribute a docu- 
ment describing and presenting approved plans for school build- 
ings, furniture and furnishings, ventilation, heating and lighting. 
A pamphlet of 72 pages, with 50 illustrations, was distributed. 
Summarizing results achieved in two years, Mr. Barnard wrote: 
If the same progress can be made for three years more, Rhode 
Island can claim in proportion to the number of school districts 
more specimens of good houses and fewer dilapidated, incon- 
venient and unhealthy structures of the kind than any other 
state. To bring about thus early this great and desirable result 
I can suggest nothing beyond the vigorous prosecution of the 



/ 



134 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

same measures which have proved so successful during the past 
two years." 

School Attendance. — School attendance was found to be un- 
satisfactory. Estimating the number of children in the state 
aged between 4 and 15 years as 30,000, 24,000 attended public 
and private schools, of whom 21,000 attended public schools, 
but of these only 18,000 were within school age, and one-third 
attended irregularly. Far too many children of school age 
attended no school and received no instruction. Henry Barnard 
suggested these remedies: (1) A regular time each year for 
the school term, (2) a regular time for admitting pupils, (3) a 
regular time for beginning school sessions, (4) forfeiture of school 
privileges for poor attendance, (5) regular attendance, (6) care- 
ful records of attendance and class work and standing, (7) weekly 
and monthly reports to parents, (8) specified holidays and no 
others. Modern educators, of course, would reject exclusion 
from school as a remedy for poor attendance. The School 
Agent recommended as part of his school law the act of 1840 
that required children under 12 employed in factories to attend 
school three months a year. Compulsory attendance appeared 
nowhere else in his list of remedies. He would improve schools, 
\ make them attractive, insist upon regularity in term and time, 
^and depend upon these factors to draw children to school. 
Among other improvements sorely needed, Mr. Barnard 
suggested graded schools and graded courses of study, if any 
advance were to be made beyond schooling of the most ele- 
mentary-primary type, with special attention to adapting the 
work of the schools to the community. Henry Barnard be- 
lieved that populous manufacturing districts would become 
the homes of thriving schools. In this he proved to be in error. 

Legislation Needed. — Henry Barnard found these defects in 
school laws: (1) Want of a systematic digest, (2) restriction 
on the amount of money which towns were permitted to raise 



SURVEY AND REORGANIZATION. 135 

for school support, (3) no check upon the creation of weak school 
districts, (4) absence of conditions which should lead towns to 
supplement state appropriations, (5) want of a rule governing 
the apportionment of school money to school districts, (6) want 
of adequate means of preparing teachers, (7) absence of a system 
of inspection and supervision, (8) want of suitable provision for 
uniformity of textbooks, (9) absence of restriction on waste of 
school money, (10) want of a tribunal for settling cheaply school 
disputes, (11) want of provision for uniform and efficient ad- 
ministration, (12) want of measures of progress by neglect to 
require adequate reports. He suggested the following reme- 
dies: (1) A reorganization of the school administrative system 
in three orders, state, town and district; (2) supplementing 
state support of public schools by required town taxes, registry 
taxes, and rate bills where necessary, districts to provide school- 
houses and parents to furnish books and stationery; (3) grading 
of schools; (4) certification of teachers; (5) adaptation of courses 
of study to town needs, towns to select courses of study, subject 
to advice of the state department; (6) a school year of not less 
than four months; (7) supervision of schools by district trustees, 
town school committees, county inspectors and the Commis- 
sioner of Public Schools; (8) establishment of a normal school; 
(9) establishment of school libraries, open to use by the general 
public; (10) diffusion of information about schools by printed 
reports and public meetings and addresses. 

Many of his recommendations were incorporated in the draft 
of a new school law, which, with remarks by the agent explaining 
the various sections, was ordered printed at the May session, 
1844, and was passed, after discussion and amendment, in 1845, 
to go into effect after the October session in that year.* 

* The Barnard school act— Commissioner of Public Schools in propor- 

1. Prescribed the appointment of a tion to population under 15; to be desig- 
Commissioner of Public Schools by the nated teachers' money and used exclusively 
Governor, at a compensation to be fixed by for the payment of teachers' wages; to be 
the General Assembly. supplemented by town appropriations of at 

2. Provided for an annual appropria- least one-third the amount received from 
tion of $25,000, to be apportioned by the the state.— Henry Barnard advocated 



136 



PUBLIC ' EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 



THE BARNARD SCHOOL LAW. 

The fundamental features of the Barnard school act may be 
summarized as follows : 

1. Organization of town schools as a quasi-state system, 
with a state officer, the Commissioner of Public Schools, to 
administer the system. 

2. Supervision of schools by the Commissioner of Public 
Schools, county inspectors appointed by him, school committees 
and school trustees. 



town appropriations at least equalling state 
school money. 

3. Authorized, empowered and ordered 
the Commissioner of Public Schools (1) to 
apportion state school money and draw 
orders on the general treasury for its dis- 
tribution, (2) to prepare suitable forms for 
school reports required from towns, (3) 
to adjust and decide without cost disputes 
arising under the school law when sub- 
mitted to him for adjustment, his decision 
to be final when approved by one justice of 
the Supreme Court, (4) to visit as often 
as practicable every school district in the 
state for the purpose of inspecting the 
schools and diffusing as widely as possible 
by public addresses and personal commu- 
nications with school officers, teachers and 
parents a knowledge of existing defects 
and desirable improvements in the admin- 
istration of the system, and the govern- 
ment and instruction of the schools, (5) to 
recommend textbooks and secure uni- 
formity if practicable in at least every 
town, (6) to assist in establishing and 
selecting books for school libraries, (7) to 
establish teachers' institutes and one 
thoroughly organized normal school, (8) to 
appoint county inspectors to serve without 
compensation, visit schools and examine 
teachers, (9) to grant certificates to teachers 
examined and approved by county in- 
spectors, (10) to keep records and report 
to the General Assembly (a) his own doings, 
(b) the condition of schools, (c) plans and 
suggestions for improvement of schools, 
and (d) on other matters. 

4. Imposed upon towns the duty of 
providing for the education of all children 
residing within their respective limits: (1) 
By establishing, altering or abolishing 
primary school districts, provided that no 



district be formed with less than 40 pupils 
without the consent of the Commissioner 
of Public Schools, and none by the division 
of a populous district where graded schools 
could be conveniently established. (2) By 
establishing and maintaining a sufficient 
number of public schools of different 
grades, conveniently located, under the 
management and regulation of a school 
committee. (3) By raising money for the 
support of schools by taxation, no town to 
receive state school money unless it raised 
at least one-third as much as its apportion- 
ment of state school money. (4) By elect- 
ing a school committee of three, six, nine or 
twelve residents. 

5. Prescribed the powers and duties of 
school committees as (1) to organize by 
electing a chairman and clerk, (2) to meet 
quarterly in January, April, July and Octo- 
ber, (3) to alter district lines subject to the 
approval of the town or the Commissioner 
of Public Schools, (4) to locate schoolhouse 
sites and not to abandon or change a site 
without due cause, (5) to examine and cer- 
tificate teachers for schools within the 
town, (6) to annul teachers' certificates for 
inability disclosed by trial or for miscon- 
duct, (7) to visit and examine schools at 
least twice each term, (8) to suspend or 
expel incorrigibly bad pupils, (9) to make 
general rules and regulations for the govern- 
ment of schools, (10) to fill vacancies in the 
committee caused by resignation, death or 
removal, (11) to apportion state school 
money to districts, one-half equally and 
one-half in proportion to average daily 
attendance, (12) to apportion town school 
money to districts according to the order 
of the town, (13) to apportion school money 
only to districts which returned the reports 
required by the committee and the Com- 



SURVEY AND REORGANIZATION. 



137 



3. A system of schools reports: (1) District reports to town 
school committees, (2) school committee reports to the town, 
to be read in town meeting or printed and distributed, (3) school 
committee reports to the Commissioner of Public Schools, and 
(4) the report of the Commissioner of Public Schools to the 
General Assembly, with recommendations and suggestions for 
improvements. 

4. A tribunal for the adjustment of disputes arising under the 
school law. The Commissioner of Public Schools was em- 
powered to hear and decide, without costs, appeals addressed to 
him, thus obviating necessity for actions at law or petitions to 
the General Assembly. 



missioner of Public Schools, and which 
maintained a school at least four months a 
year taught by a qualified teacher in a 
schoolhouse approved by the school com- 
mittee, (14) to report annually to the 
Commissioner of Public Schools, and by 
printed or written document to the annual 
town meeting, the report to be read if not 
printed and distributed, (15) to exercise in 
towns not divided into districts the powers 
otherwise assigned to district trustees, (16) 
to conduct a school and employ a teacher for 
any school district in which the trustees 
neglected or refused for nine months to 
conduct a school, (17) to exercise all the 
powers and perform the duties of trustees 
in school districts which voted, with the 
consent of the committee, to devolve such 
powers upon the committee, (18) to send 
children to school in adjacent towns if 
more convenient and to pay a proportionate 
part of the cost of such schools. 

6. Prescribed rules for the organization 
of school districts, for their consolidation 
and division, and for the time and place of 
holding school district meetings. 

7. Defined the corporate powers of 
school districts: (1) To prosecute and de- 
fend actions at law, (2) to purchase, re- 
ceive, hold and convey school property, 
(3) to build, purchase, hire and repair 
schoolhouses and furnish and equip the 
same, provided that plans for building 
and repairing must be approved by the 
school committee or the Commissioner of 



Public Schools, (4) to establish school 
libraries, (5) to employ teachers, (6) to 
raise money by tax on ratable estates for 
school purposes, and to fix a rate of tuition 
to be paid by parents, employers or guard- 
ians of children in attendance not to ex- 
ceed $1 for each term of three months, 
subject to the approval of the school com- 
mittee, (7) to elect trustees, and (8) to 
elect a clerk, collector and treasurer for 
the district to attend to the details of 
levying and collecting school district taxes 
in manner provided by the act. 

8. Defined the powers and duties of 
school trustees: (1) To have the custody 
of schoolhouses and other district property, 
(2) to give notice of district meetings, (3) 
to employ one or more qualified teachers 
for each 50 scholars in average daily 
attendance, provide schoolrooms and fur- 
nish fuel properly prepared for burning, 
(4) to visit each school at least twice each 
term, (5) to see that scholars were pro- 
vided with books, and upon neglect of 
parents or guardians (after notice) to pro- 
vide books for scholars at the expense of 
the district and charge the cost upon tax 
or rate bills, (6) to make out tax and rate 
bills, (7) to report to the school committee. 

9. Permitted towns (1) to establish pub- 
lic school libraries, for use by the inhabi- 
tants generally and to be located in one 
place or transferred in whole or in parts to 
different sections of the town; (2) to 
assume the burden of providing school- 



138 



PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 



5. School support by (1) an annual state appropriation, to 
be used exclusively for payment of teachers' wages, and to be 
apportioned (a) to the towns on the basis of population under 15, 
and (b) in the towns to school districts, one-half equally and 
one-half in proportion to average daily attendance; (2) required 
supplementary town appropriations equal to at least one-third 
the town's share in state school money; (3) permissible town 
and district taxation and appropriations for school support with 
no maximum limitation; (4) rate bills, if necessary to make up 
deficiencies of state, town and district appropriations, limited 
however, to one dollar per pupil per term of three months. 

6. Town responsibility for the provision of educational 
opportunities for all resident children. Parental responsibility 



houses, imposed by the law upon school 
districts; (3) to conduct schools at option 
upon the town or district plan. 

10. Permitted adjoining primary school 
districts to combine for the purpose of 
establishing secondary or grammar schools 
for more advanced pupils, under the 
management of a secondary school com- 
mittee in which each district was repre- 
sented, and taught by a teacher holding a 
certificate of qualification issued by the 
county inspector or the Commissioner of 
Public Schools. 

11. Permitted contiguous districts or 
parts of contiguous districts in adjoining 
towns, with the consent of the towns, to 
form union districts for the support of a 
single district school. 

12. Required teachers (1) to hold cer- 
tificates signed by the town school com- 
mittee, the county inspector or the Com- 
missioner of Public Schools, which certifi- 
cates were valid (a), respectively, for one, 
two and three years, and (b), respectively, 
in the town, county and throughout the 
state, and could be issued only after the 
person named therein had produced evi- 
dence of good moral character, and had 
been found, on examination or by expe- 
rience, qualified to teach the English lan- 
guage, arithmetic, penmanship and the 
rudiments of geography and history, and 
to govern a school; and (2) to keep school 
registers of attendance and of visits by 
trustees, school committees, inspectors, the 



Commissioner of Public Schools and other 
persons. 

13. Provided an annual appropriation 
of $100 for a school for the Narragansett 
Indians. 

14. Required town clerks to record all 
votes and proceedings relating to schools 
in a book provided for that purpose; to 
receive and keep reports and documents 
addressed to the town, and to receive and 
forward communications from the Com- 
missioner of Public Schools. 

15. Required town treasurers to keep 
separate accounts of school money, to re- 
ceive and to pay it out upon proper orders, 
and to notify the school committee within 
one week after the regular town meeting of 
the amount of money available for school 
purposes and the sources from which it was 
derived. 

16. Forbade and provided a penalty for 
misapplication of school money. 

17. Excluded Providence from the pro- 
visions of the act, except as to sharing in 
the distribution of school money, and con- 
firmed the special legislation enacted for 
Providence and Newport. 

18. Provided that no child could be 
excluded from the school in the district in 
which he resided or from the nearest public 
school in towns where there were no dis- 
tricts, unless by general rule, and in no 
case for inability of the parents or guardian 
or employer of the child to pay taxes, rates 
or assessments for any school purpose 
whatsoever. 



SURVEY AND REORGANIZATION. 139 

for books, stationery and tuition, but provision for absolutely 
free education for poor children. 

7. Organization of the town school system, at the option of 
the town, upon the district or town plan; definition of the 
powers of school committees and school trustees; limitation 
upon the creation of weak school districts and upon the division 
of populous towns and districts. 

8. Power for towns and districts to acquire, hold and convey 
property for school purposes; to build, purchase, hire, repair 
and maintain schoolhouses; to. equip schoolhouses and school 
rooms with furniture and apparatus, district schoolhouses and 
plans for building and repair to be approved by the school com- 
mittee or the Commissioner of Public Schools. 

9. The duty of districts (or towns) to provide schoolrooms, 
hire teachers and provide fuel; parents to provide books and 
stationery. 

10. Measures for school improvement: (1) A minimum 
school year— not less than four months; (2) limitation of the 
size of classes to 50 pupils per teacher; (3) limitation on the 
creation of weak districts; (4) graded schools and courses of 
study where practicable. 

11. Measures for the improvement of teachers: (1) Teach- 
ers' meetings, addresses and teachers' institutes, and (2) the 
organization of a normal school for teacher training. 

12. Certification of teachers by school committee, county 
inspector or the Commissioner of Public Schools, and definite 
statement of the subjects required for qualification. The longer 
term for state certificates and their validity throughout the 
state and in the union grammar schools was an inducement to 
teachers to seek these certificates. 

An Evaluation of the Barnard Act.— The advances in the 
Barnard school law were: (1) The creation of a state organiza- 
tion, (2) compulsory support of schools by towns, (3) ample 



140 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

powers conferred on towns to build and acquire schoolhouses, 
(4) restriction on the creation of weak school districts, (5) cer- 
tification of teachers, (6) a minimum school year, (7) restriction 
on the size of classes, (8) state supervision, (9) school reports. 
The most serious defect in the law was the creation of the office 
of school trustee, with powers likely to bring him into conflict 
with the school committee. This created a division of authority 
and was a concession to local autonomy inconsistent with the 
tendency to centralization of authority evidenced in the organi- 
zation of a state department of education. Other defects were 
(1) the exclusion of Providence from the law^and the tacit 
recognition of two standards for schools — a cffy standard and 
a rural standard; (2) the omission of a compulsory attendance 
provision or remedies for truancy, and (3) provision for a normal 
school without an appropriation or other means of making it 
possible. 

Henry Barnard, Commissioner.- — Henry Barnard was ap- 
pointed Commissioner of Public Schools under the act of 1845, 
remaining in office until 1849, when he resigned because of 
failing health. He was then 38 years of age; he lived for half 
a century thereafter, dying in 1900, after years of splendid 
service for public education, including a short term as the first 
United States Commissioner of Education. Besides his oral 
reports to the General Assembly, his Journal of the Institute of 
Instruction, in three volumes, and a final report made in 1849 
epitomized his work in Rhode Island. Of his report for 1849, 
250 pages deal with school architecture and 140 with libraries. 
In his five years as agent and Commissioner in Rhode Island 
Henry Barnard labored assiduously, while his health permitted, 
to carry into full effect the reforms which he projected. Most 
of all, improvement was made in the physical character of 
schoolhouses and equipment, and in the personnel, methods and 
spirit of teachers — two of the most important elements in a 
system of schools. Among the people of the state he aroused 



SURVEY AND REORGANIZATION. 141 

wholesome interest in schools. He was enabled to demonstrate 
the wisdom of his recommendations, although complete realiza- 
tion of many of them was deferred, in some instances, for years. 
His school law, although many times revised and amended, is 
still the foundation of Rhode Island school law. Rhode Island 
was fortunate, indeed, in obtaining for the great survey of 
1843-45, antedating as it did by almost seventy years the 
modern survey, a school system at once adequate for that 
time, and sufficiently adaptable to changing conditions to 
warrant its continuance. There has been no radical change in 
school administration and policy in the state since 1845, and 
yet the period has witnessed continued and continuous progress. 
There has been evolution and growth without reconstruction. 
Improvement has been the natural outgrowth or the realization 
of suggestions made by Henry Barnard, and of foundations well 
established. There can be no greater monument to the memory 
of Henry Barnard than the school system which he helped 
Rhode Island to reorganize. 

THE AFTERMATH OF THE SURVEY. 

The Rhode Island school law of 1845 and the labors of Henry 
Barnard marked the beginning of a new epoch in Rhode Island 
school history — "new," because, historians to the contrary not- 
withstanding, there were schools in Rhode Island and a history 
of schools before Rhode Island called Henry Barnard; "an 
epoch," because the change from old to new was fraught with so 
much import, and "the beginning," because so much of what 
Henry Barnard projected was destined to be realized only years 
after his retirement. Thus Rhode Island school history neither 
ended with the advent of Henry Barnard, nor began with his 
coming. Henry Barnard's service to Rhode Island was unique, 
quantitatively, in the immense immediate physical improvement 
accomplished in half a decade, and in the no less appreciable 
enrichment of public opinion; and qualitatively, in the elements 



142 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

of merit which made his system adaptable in detail to a changing 
environment while fundamentally permanently satisfactory. 

Much as Henry Barnard accomplished, more remained to be 
done. Schoolhouses were still needed in districts in which the 
awakening had been delayed; school districts that had built 
splendid schoolhouses needed a spur to continue their endeavors, 
if not, indeed, a reawakening from a reaction and exhaustion 
consequent upon overexertion in the "revival" period. There 
were school districts in the state in which the building of school- 
houses was a "standing bugbear to further improvements in 
their neighborhood. They are," wrote Commissioner John 
Kingsbury in 1859, "like expensive dwelling houses, whose 
owners have so crippled themselves in building that they cannot 
afford to live in their houses after they are built. In respect 
to such schoolhouses, the standing argument is, we have ex- 
pended so much money in building our house that we cannot 
aiford to tax ourselves for a good school." Commissioner 
Potter, Henry Barnard's immediate successor, doubted the 
wisdom of enforced town support to supplement state school 
money, suggesting that progress might be more rapid if the 
state assumed the entire burden. He realized keenly the need 
of more money to improve schools. Problems of physical 
equipment and adequate support continued to be perplexing — 
but these problems never can be solved beyond the ever present, 
and the immediate future. 

The Barnard school law and the Barnard programme for 
future improvement created new problems. The Commissioner 
of Public Schools — a new officer — must find his proper place in 
the system. Was he destined to become merely a ministerial 
educational secretary for the General Assembly, a collector of 
reports and a statistician? Or was he to become the respected 
adviser of the General Assembly, a leader moulding public 
opinion in educational matters, and the repository of an au- 
thority in school administration which inferior school officials 
must recognize? A town system, of school administration, to 



SURVEY AND REORGANIZATION. 143 

replace the district system, remained to be perfected. Pro- 
vision for the normal school for teacher training lay in the 
future. The Barnard plan to encourage a higher qualification 
for teachers by state certification failed in the first trial, although 
years afterward Rhode Island assumed leadership in perfecting 
state certification. The public schools under the Barnard law 
were not free schools, as they must become eventually. The 
people needed more education of the liberal kind expounded 
by Henry Barnard to carry them beyond the level reached in 
the "revival" period to a clear vision of the necessity for 
adequate support of schools free for everybody. Henry Bar- 
nard, as later experience proved, had not approached a solu- 
tion of the problem of universal education involved in school 
attendance. His theory that the quality of good schools and 
an aroused public interest were sufficient to insure ample pro- 
vision for the education of the rising generation was Utopian. 
It pandered to the strong individualism still surviving in Rhode 
Island. Drastic compulsory attendance and truancy laws 
proved to be necessary. Grading of schools and of courses of 
study, as outlined by Henry Barnard, was but a meagre be- 
ginning of public support for education beyond primary ele- 
mentary schools. Even the Barnard school law, compre- 
hensive as it was in its detail and in its definition of rights, 
powers and duties, needed amendment almost immediately to 
adapt it to existing conditions — but that is a characteristic of 
all statutes. Experience is the crucible in which law is refined 
and perfected. 

The major problems awaiting solution in 1845 were these: 

1. Provision of adequate support for schools. 

2. Abolition of tuition charges and textbooks exactions. 

3. Increasing school attendance. 

4. Provision for teacher training. 

5. Town school administration — the district problem. 

6. Orientation of the Commissioner of Public Schools. 



144 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

ADEQUATE SUPPORT FOR SCHOOLS. 

The assured sources of school support under the Barnard act 
were an anuual state appropriation of $25,000 and registry 
taxes under the Constitution. The obligation of towns was 
stated thus : " To provide for the education of all the children 
residing within their respective limits, the several towns are 
empowered and it shall be their duty ... to maintain a 
sufficient number of public schools . . . and ... to 
raise by tax . . . such sums of money for the support of 
public schools as they shall judge necessary . . . provided 
that a sum equal to one-third the amount received from the 
general treasury for the support of public schools for the year 
next preceding shall be raised before any town shall be entitled 
to receive its proportion of the annual state appropriation." 
The construction of this declaration of the town's duty as 
mandatory, and as compelling town support of schools supple- 
mentary to state support and sufficient in amount to insure 
schools, was inhibited by later sections of the same act, which 
empowered school districts to assess taxes for school support 
and to collect tuition from scholars by rate bill. The revised 
school law of 1851 confirmed the weaker interpretation by its 
provision that "towns may establish and maintain ... a 
sufficient number of public schools." As a matter of fact and 
of law, neither act imposed any enforceable obligation upon 
the towns; the coercion that the state might exercise in 
compelling town support of schools was limited to requiring 
application of state school money to the purposes for which it 
was distributed, and the withholding of state school money for 
failure to raise by taxation at least one-third as much as the 
state apportioned. In 1846 the Commissioner of Public Schools 
was authorized to remit forfeitures; but this leniency to de- 
linquent towns proved demoralizing rather than corrective. 
It permitted a town to forfeit, reform the following year, and 



SURVEY AND REORGANIZATION. 145 

draw two years school money for the support of schools kept 
only one year. In 1848 the share of state school money which 
any town forfeited by failure to assess a tax for school support 
was ordered covered into the permanent school fund. This is 
one forfeiture which the Commissioner of Public Schools may 
not remit. 

Weakness of the Law Remedied. — The weakness of the state's 
position under the laws was clearly understood. Commis- 
sioners of Public Schools were obliged occasionally to report the 
failure of a town to raise its quota, or that "every town in the 

state, but " had complied with the school law. The 

Supreme Court in 1881 confirmed the recognized interpretation 
of the law, declaring that the statutes permitted but did not 
obligate towns to maintain public schools. Wixon vs. New- 
port, 13 R. I. 454; approved 21 R. I. 29. In 1882 the duty of 
towns to support public schools was made mandatory ; in the 
Public Statutes the words "shall maintain" replaced the words 
"may maintain, 1 " and the town system of schools became a state 
system, at last. 

As between towns and districts the power to compel support- 
was somewhat more ample, though still deficient. Under the 
Barnard act school committees were empowered, "if any dis- 
trict shall neglect or refuse to establish a school and employ a 
teacher for the same for nine months ... to establish such 
school and employ a teacher for the same as the trustees might 
have done." In 1846 the period of neglect or refusal which 
would permit a school committee to act was reduced to six 
months. But there the town's power to deal with the district 
ended, beyond the right to withhold state and town school 
money and registry taxes. There was no method of compelling 
the taxpayers of a refractory district to pay an additional 
assessment for the support of the district school thus thrust 
upon the town. As a last resort, however, the town might 



146 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

have recourse to its right, through its school committee, to 
discontinue the district,* to alter its boundaries, or to divide the 
district and annex the parts to other districts. The right of a 
town to abolish all districts and assume complete, control of its 
school system, without regard to districts, seems to have been 
in doubt after 1846, when a statute confirmed existing district 
boundaries, leaving them subject to alteration only by the 
school committee. In 1884 towns were given authority and 
power to abolish districts. 

State Support Increased — For want of adequate legislation to 
compel town support of schools, and because the spirit of local 
autonomy was sufficiently strong in the General Assembly to 
defeat proposed legislation, as it had Henry Barnard's rec- 
ommendation of town support to equal state support, the state 
itself must finance projects for school improvement. The 
difference between state and town support, ultimately, is a 
question of public policy in distributing the burden of taxation . 
State school support is a device for placing upon the taxable 
property of the entire commonwealth the cost of school main- 
tenance; it rallies wealthy communities to the assistance of 
their poorer neighbors. It should enable the weakest and 
poorest community to maintain for its children schools of 
standard quality. Thus state support is consistent with the 
educational principle that there shall be one standard for all 
the schools of the commonwealth, and with modern political 
and social theory that the state is responsible for the education 
of all its citizens. Whatever might ' be the motive that 
actuated the members of the General Assembly in refusing to 
impose upon their constituents, the taxpayers of the towns 
which they represented, an irrecusable obligation to assess 
themselves for school support, Rhode Island was committed to 
what was ultimately probably a wiser policy. 

*Bull vs. School Committee, 11 R. I. 244. 



SURVEY AND REORGANIZATION. 147 

In 1849 the General Assembly voted to assess a tax of three 
cents on every $100 of taxable property in the state, $10,000 
of the proceeds to be applied to school support, and the balance 
to payment of the debt of the state, including the state's debt 
to the United States deposit fund, and to orders of the General 
Assembly. The annual school appropriation was raised to 
$35,000, but the obligation of towns to supplement state school 
money remained at one-third the town's share in the distribu- 
tion of $25,000, as under the Barnard act. A conflict of opinion 
in the General Assembly as to the wisdom of increasing the 
obligation of towns delayed enactment of a revised school law 
until 1851, and the conservative party was triumphant. The 
town obligation remained unchanged. 

The state, in 1854, added $15,000 to its annual appropriation; 
towns were requiied to supplement the state school money by 
taxation amounting to one-third of the town's share in $35,000. 
In 1869 the town obligation was raised to one-half, and in 1871 
and afterward town taxation for school support must equal 
state school money. The state appropriation was made 
$70,000 in 1868, $90,000 in 1869 and $120,000 in 1884. Dog 
license fees were appropriated to school support in 1869, and in 
1888 poll taxes replaced registry taxes. 

ABOLITION OF TUITION. 

Scholars in the early free public schools of Providence were 
assessed for fuel and required to furnish ink. In 1833 the fuel 
assessment was abolished. Newport assessed against scholars 
a small tuition charge, but provided free textbooks and sta- 
tionery. By statute in 1839 school committees were empow- 
ered, "whenever an amount of money sufficient to pay for fuel, 
rent and other incidental expenses of public schools shall not be 
provided by any town by taxation or otherwise," "to assess a 
sum sufficient to pay such expenses upon those who send 
scholars to the schools, in such manner as they may deem just, 



148 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

exempting from assessment such as they consider unable or too 
poor to pay." This act supplemented section 4 of the general 
school law of 1839, which required that state school money be 
"applied to pay for instruction, and not for room rent, fuel 
or any other purpose whatsoever." It enabled town school 
committees to use the state school money, by hiring a teacher 
even when the town failed to provide a schoolroom and addi- 
tional money for incidental expenses of keeping school. The 
Barnard school act continued the prevailing system, designated 
the state school money " teachers' money," to be applied ex- 
clusively to the payment of teachers' wages, and permitted 
assessment of tuition, which it limited in amount to one dollar 
per scholar for each term of three months. In 1847 the legal 
voters of any district in which public schools of different grades 
were established, were empowered to fix a rate of tuition for 
each grade of schools, not exceeding one dollar per scholar for 
the lowest grade and two dollars for the higher grade, for any 
term of three months, provided that the rate of tuition be 
approved by the school committee. 

The Evil of Rate Bills. — Commissioner Potter, in 1850, rec- 
ommended abolition of rate bills. "There can be no doubt," 
he said, " that the present rate bill system is one great obstacle 
in the way of a more general attendance. In several of the 
larger towns the schools are now made entirely free by town 
taxation, but in many of the towns the state and town appro- 
priations are insufficient and the remainder is assessed on 
scholars. . . . The greatness of the evil is apparent. It 
is for the wisdom of the Legislature to devise a remedy." 
Other Commissioners pointed out the evil effects on school 
attendance produced by charging tuition. The exemption of 
poor children was not an adequate remedy; it was well known 
that many parents preferred keeping their children away from 
school to confessing poverty. The rate bill was an assessment 



SURVEY AND REORGANIZATION. 149 

payment of which could not be avoided easily. Payment 
might be demanded in advance; the rate bill could be collected 
in the same manner as town taxes, by levy upon the property 
of the debtor, or by arrest of his body and imprisonment for 
debt. Hence, possibly, arose a reluctance on the part of some 
who could pay, to incur the obligation. It was almost 
ridiculous to expect a satisfactory attendance record under all 
the circumstances. 

The amounts collected by rate bills, as reported to the Com- 
missioner of Public Schools, were $10,075 in 1851, $10,210 in 
1852, $6,516 in 1853, $10,823 in 1854, $11,721 in 1855, $10,502 
in 1856, $7,394 in 1857, $5,251 in 1858, $5,893 in 1859, $6,831 in 
1860, $5,320 in 1861, $3,739 in 1862, $4,551 in 1863, $3,296 in 
1864, $4,920 in 1865, $9,655 in 1866, $9,630 in 1867, $8,945 in 
1868, $2,452 in 1869. In 1868 rate bills, after the current year, 
were abolished. The state, at the same time that it abolished 
rate bills, increased its annual appropriation $20,000, thus 
amply providing for the towns which still depended upon this 
form of school tax. Three-quarters of the towns in the state 
used rate bills in 1867 and 1868. 

TEXTBOOK EXACTIONS— FREE TEXTBOOKS. 

The textbook problem was threefold; that is, it involved 
three problems: First, the supplying of pupils in the schools 
with the books needed for study; second, uniformity of text- 
books in the different schools of a system ; third, some reasonable 
restriction upon frequent changes of books or editions. The 
first problem, that of supply, was complicated by failure to solve 
the second and third. While teachers were permitted to choose 
textbooks and editions for use in their own schoolrooms, and 
while school officers and teachers were permitted to act as 
agents for textbook manufacturers — the word seems apt to 
characterize a certain class of publisher — and while there were 
no restrictions upon frequent changes, parents of school 



150 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

children were burdened not only with the primary cost of 
providing books, but with the additional and vexatious exac- 
tion of buying new books with every change of teachers, new 
books upon removal or transfer from one to another district 
in the same town, and still other new books when a change 
was ordered by school officers. 

The Textbook Evil. — Reports of Providence schoolmasters in 
1820 disclosed a variation in textbooks, in spite of rules and 
regulations which prescribed certain books. In 1830 the school 
committee adopted Oliver Angell's series of Union books, 
which were published at a low price, as a means of reducing the 
burden. The general school acts of 1828 and 1839 permitted 
school committees to prescribe the books used in town schools, 
thus limiting the assumed prerogatives of teachers. And yet, 
Wilkins Updike, in his address to the General Assembly in 1843, 
declared: "The books for our schools are selected by authors, 
publishers, or itinerant vendors, and all that parents have to do 
about the matter is to get new books every year and pay the 
bills. . . . There is no uniform set of class books, not only 
throughout the state, but even in the same district. . . . 
One man, one winter, teaches from one set of class books, and 
the next teacher requires an altogether different set of books." 
Henry Barnard found " want of suitable provision for uniformity 
of textbooks" one of the defects of the school laws, and his 
school law prescribed as one of the duties of the Commissioner 
of Public Schools, "to recommend the best textbooks, and 
secure, as far as practicable, a uniformity in the schools of at 
least every town," and empowered school committees "to 
prescribe ... a general system of rules and regulations 
for . . . studies, books . . . and methods of instruc- 
tion in the public schools." 

Statutory Regulation. — A general law enacted in 1870 forbade 
superintendents of schools, members of school committees and 



SURVEY AND REORGANIZATION. 151 

other persons officially connected with public schools to receive 
any private fee, gratuity, donation or compensation, in any 
manner whatsoever, for promoting the sale or exchange of any 
school book, map or chart in any public school, and other 
persons to offer fees, commission or compensation to public 
school officers for promoting such sales or exchanges. Changes 
in textbooks might be made thereafter only by two-thirds vote 
of the school committee* after notice in writing had been given 
at a previous meeting, and not oftener than once in three years 
without the consent of the State Board of Education. This 
law of 1870 is, substantially, law at the present time. In two 
decisions under the law the Commissioner of Public Schools has 
held that a change of editions may not be a change of textbooks, 
and that reconsideration of an order to change textbooks, unless 
notice of the motion to reconsider suspends the original change, 
is an attempted second change and violates the law.t 

The law of 1870 solved two textbook problems. The main 
problem, that of supplying textbooks, was as serious in its 
effect upon the schools as upon the pocketbooks of parents. 
Presuming that textbooks are necessary, the beginning of 
efficient instruction must await the time when scholars are 
amply provided with these important accessories, and scholars 
tardily provided with books, or without books, must be a con- 
tinual handicap to reasonable progress. The masters of Provi- 
dence schools were ordered, in 1804, to "receive no scholars 
unless they are severally furnished with such books as are 
studied in the several classes to which such scholar belongs," 
but the same order provided a way lor supplying books for 
"scholars whose parents or guardians may not be able to 
furnish them with the necessary books." In 1822 masters 
were ordered to "attend personally on parents . . . and 
others having charge of children who attend their respective 

*By a majority vote of the elected members in Providence. 
tSchool Law of Rhode Island, 1914, 67. 



152 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

schools and inform them that unless they are furnished with 
suitable books, or make it appear satisfactorily that they are 
not able to procure these, that they will be liable to be dismissed 
from school." Newport dealt with the textbook problem by 
supplying free textbooks and charging tuition to cover the cost. 
Neither the law of 1828 nor the law of 1839 empowered school 
committees to supply textbooks or make other provision for 
scholars not provided with books. 

The Problem Recognized. — The Barnard school act required 
school trustees "to see that scholars are properly supplied with 
books, and in case they are not, and the parents and guardians 
or master have been notified thereof by the teacher, to provide 
the same at the expense of the district and add the price thereof 
to the next school tax or rate bill of said parents." The act 
safeguarded the children of the poor through its provision for 
exemption from tuition charges at the discretion of the trustees, 
and the positive rule that no child should be excluded from 
school for inability of his parents or guardians to pay rate bill 
or other tax. Mr. Barnard explained the section of the law 
thus: "Nothing short of the power with which the trustees 
are here invested will do away with the complaints, and just 
complaints of teachers, respecting the inadequate supply of 
suitable books. In more than four-fifths of the returns which 
have been received from teachers a number of children are 
mentioned as not supplied with books. It would be better in 
most of the districts, and even the towns, to have the books pur- 
chased by or under the direction of the school committee or 
trustees, and furnished, when needed, to the children, and the 
expense put upon the tax or rate bill of the parents." 

Commissioner Potter recognized the expense of providing 
textbooks as one of the reasons for parents' neglect to send 
children to school, and as a cause for poor school attendance. 
Commissioner Allyn advocated the supplying of textbooks by 



SURVEY AND REORGANIZATION. 153 

school committees, or the purchase by school officers of sufficient 
supplies of books and the loaning of books to scholars at a 
small rental — perhaps free textbooks. He, too, considered the 
expense of providing textbooks as detrimental to school attend- 
ance. 

Free Textbooks. — The abolition of rate bills in 1868 marked a 
step in advance toward free textbooks. The duty of school 
trustees to supply books for scholars not otherwise provided 
continued; but the expense thereafter could no longer be 
charged to parents. In 1893 the General Assembly enacted a 
free textbook law, requiring the school committee of every city 
and town to "purchase at the expense of such city or town, 
textbooks and other school supplies used in the public schools," 
and to loan them "to the pupils of said public schools free of 
charge, subject to such rules and regulations as to care and 
custody as the school committee may prescribe." The law 
was construed by Commissioner Ranger in 1906 as mandatory, 
obligating school committees to provide free textbooks at the 
expense of towns, even though no money had been appropriated 
or was available for the purpose.* 

The three textbook problems have been solved : First, that 
of supply, by the free textbook law; second, that of choice, by 
the power given exclusively to school committees; third, that 
of change, by the law restricting changes to once in three years. 
Since 1857 it has been one of the duties of the Commissioner of 
Public Schools to recommend as far as practicable uniformity of 
textbooks in all the towns of the state. 

SCHOOL ATTENDANCE. 

It is scarcely merely a coincidence that Francis Wayland in 
1828, the representatives of the Providence Association of 
Mechanics and Manufacturers in 1839, Wilkins Updike in 1843, 
and Henry Barnard in 1844 found the deficiencies of the public 

♦School Law of Rhode Islahd, 1914, 67. 



154 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

schools of their time a cause sufficient to explain a considerable 
proportion of poor attendance. The facts that so many children 
in Providence attended private schools, and that public school 
attendance in Providence invariably increased after reforms or 
improvements in the schools, supported the position of Wayland 
and the Mechanics. Updike believed that such improvements 
in rural schools as would carry them to the standard maintained 
in Providence in 1843, would attract pupils to them and remedy 
evil school conditions throughout the state. Barnard's rec- 
ommendations urged improved schools. His specific remedies — 
(1) a regular time each year for the school term, (2) a regular 
time for admitting pupils, (3) a regular time for beginning school 
sessions, (4) forfeiture of school privileges for poor attendance, 
(5) regular attendance, (6) careful records of attendance and 
class work, (7) weekly and monthly reports to parents, and (8) 
specified holidays and no others — tended to cure irregular 
attendance and to improve average attendance records, rather 
than school enrollment. None of the reformers mentioned 
urged compulsory attendance. 

To provide for the keeping of the records required by the 
Barnard act, the Commissioner of Public Schools was ordered in 
1846 to furnish a suitable register for each district school. The 
total enrollment in 1845 was 20,096; in 1850 it was 24,743, with 
average attendance only 13,282; in 1855 total enrollment was 
26,883 and average attendance 18,998. iSchool population was 
estimated in 1850 as 33,958, and in 1855 as 39,001. The slight 
gain in enrollment fell far behind the increase in school popula- 
tion; the gain in average attendance was more comforting. 
Comparing total enrollment in 1852 and 1857, Commissioner 
Allyn found an actual decrease of three per cent., and a loss in 
average attendance of two per cent. 

The Religious Question. — Commissioner Potter urged the 
abolition of rate bills as one solution of the attendance problem. 
Commissioner Allyn was convinced that textbook exactions 



SURVEY AND REORGANIZATION. 155 

were a vexatious cause for poor attendance. Two bills dealing 
with truancy were passed by the Rhode Island House of Repre- 
sentatives in 1853, but failed of passage in the Senate. One 
empowered towns and cities to provide by ordinance for the 
punishment of "truant children between the ages of 5 and 15 
who are growing up in ignorance, are without regular or lawful 
occupation and are habitual truants from school," by fine or 
imprisonment in reformatory institutions. The other bill con- 
ferred similar powers upon the city of Providence. Commis- 
.sioner Potter expressed his satisfaction at the defeat of both 
bills, which were intended to deal with the withdrawal of 
Roman Catholic children from the public schools of Providence 
after the opening of parochial schools in that city. In May, 
1851, the school committee of Providence noted "a considerable 
diminution of the numbers attending several of the schools has 
recently taken place by the removal of children of Roman 
Catholic parents, schools having been provided for them under 
the immediate supervision of the clergy of their order and several 
of the Sisters of Mercy." In 1855 "this apparent decrease in 
the number of children attending our public schools, notwith- 
standing the large increase in population," was accounted for 
"by the fact that several hundred children have been withdrawn 
to attend upon the Roman Catholic schools." The several 
hundred were over 600, and in 1865 the number had increased 
to 1273. 

Commissioner Potter's objection to the truancy bills was 
consistent with his firm opposition to any action savoring 
of sectarianism or bigotry. A bitter controversy over the ' 
parochial school question was then raging in other states. 
Commissioner Potter presented voluminous extracts from the 
arguments of both parties, as supplements to his regular reports 
to the General Assembly. He laid down the rule still governing 
devotional exercises and the reading of the Bible in public 
schools: "The reading of the Bible or conducting other devo- 



156 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

tional exercises at the opening or closing of schools is neither 
forbidden nor commanded by law, and rests with the teacher, 
who should respect his own conscience and the consciences of 
his pupils and their parents." It is equally clear from Com- 
missioner Potter's report for 1853 that he was opposed to 
compulsory attendance as an invasion of the rights of individual 
liberty and the right of free and liberal thought. State control 
of education and compulsory education he characterized as 
first steps toward despotism. He believed, however, that no 
obstacle should be permitted to stand in the way of attendance 
at public schools; hence his plea for abolition of rate bills. 

Factory Legislation. — The General Assembly in 1853 limited 
the hours of labor of children employed in factories, and in 1854 
forbade the employment of minors under 15 in factories for more 
than nine months in a year and unless the minor had attended 
school three months in the preceding year . Commissioner Allyn 
was ordered in 1855 to ascertain and report the number of children 
in the state between the ages of 6 and 15 years who are habitual 
truants from public schools, with suggestions and recommenda- 
tions. A law permitting towns and cities to "make all needful 
provision and arrangements concerning habitual truants and 
children between the ages of 6 and 16, not attending school, 
without any regular employment, and growing up in ignorance, 
and also, such ordinances and by-laws respecting such children 
as shall be deemed most conducive to their welfare and the good 
order of such town," followed. Such children might be com- 
mitted to "any such institution of instruction or suitable situa- 
tion as may be provided for that purpose," but not " to any place 
used for the reception of criminals or to any reform school." 
Ordinances and by-laws must be approved by the Commissioner 
of Public Schools. The law was clearly defective and scarcely 
likely to be enforced, for two reasons: (1) That it empowered 
but did not require, towns and cities to act, and (2) that there 
were no " institutions of instruction . . . provided for that 



SURVEY AND REORGANIZATION. 157 

purpose," nor was it probable that any city or town would 
establish such an institution. It was idle, too, to attempt to 
enforce a law by fining a minor, when there was no alternative 
penalty and no effective way of enforcing payment. It was 
also impracticable to attempt to enforce compulsory attend- 
ance while tuition was charged. In such condition the law 
remained until the early 70 's. The abolition of rate bills paved 
the way for a more practicable way of dealing with attendance 
and truancy problems. 

The Color Question. — While school authorities were still 
groping in the attempt to find a remedy for poor attendance, 
one class of citizens was demanding equal school privileges, 
As early as 1828 Providence established a separate school for 
colored children in the old Brick schoolhouse on Meeting 
street. In 1836 a committee that investigated decreased 
attendance at this school found the cause to be "an unhappy 
prejudice of the coloied people against him" (the schoolmaster), 
which," although . . . generally unfounded . . . goes 
to destroy his usefulness." The committee recommended dis- 
continuance of the school and the establishment of two schools, 
to be kept by women teachers. The second school, on Pond 
street, was opened in 1837, discontinued in 1839 and reopened in 
1842, from which year until 1865 the city maintained two 
separate schools for colored children. The state law provided 
no remedy for discrimination, for these children were excluded 
from the public schools nearest their homes by force of a " gen- 
eral regulation applicable to all persons under the same cir- 
cumstances," and their appeal must rely upon sentiment for 
support while schools were provided for them of a grade corre- 
sponding with other public schools. The situation changed, 
however, when colored children were excluded altogether from 
the high school in Providence. 

Newport and Bristol also had established separate schools for 
colored children. A number of petitions praying for relief from 



158 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

discrimination and for equal rights were presented to the 
General Assembly in the early 60's, committees were appointed 
and hearings were held. There was opposition to interference 
with the school systems under investigation, but in 1866 the 
result almost inevitable in a northern state immediately after the 
Civil War, was reached. Thus it happened that discrimination 
because of color was forbidden in Rhode Island public schools 
before the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment to the 
Constitution of the United States. It may be recalled that 
the free school act of 1800 had provided for the "instruction of 
all the white inhabitants" between the ages of 6 and 20 years. 
The Newport school act of 1825 authorized the seaport town to 
raise a tax "for educating the white children of the town." 
The basis of apportioning school money for more than a genera- 
tion after 1831 was white population under 15, colored popu- 
lation under 10 and five-fourteenths of colored population 
between the ages of 10 and 24 years; but this provision, much 
as it resembles Section 2 of Article 1 of the Constitution of the 
United States, was intended, not as a discrimination against the 
colored population, but as a way of reducing census figures, 
not so elaborate in the classification of negroes as of white 
persons, to the same basis for all classes of population. The 
city of Providence, notwithstanding the general law, even 
after its enactment, maintained practically separate schools 
for colored children, by withdrawal of white children from two 
schools in precincts where the colored population was segre- 
gated. No colored child could be compelled, after the law was 
passed, to attend either school, and in course of time the dis- 
tinction disappeared as the colored population scattered into 
other sections of the city. 

Commissioner BicknelVs Effort. — A vigorous renewal of effort 
to improve the attendance record was begun by Commissioner 
Bicknell, soon after his appointment in 1869. His appeal to 
the people of the state was based upon the growth of illiteracy. 



SURVEY AND REORGANIZATION. 



159 



The facts upon which he relied are presented here in tabular 
form, with the population of the state appended for readers who 
wish to make comparisons : 







Total. 


Native 
born. 


Foreign 
born. 


White. 


Black. 


Popu- 
lation. 


1850. 
1S60. 
1865. 


Illiterates over 20 years . 
Illiterates over 20 years. 
Illiterates over 20 years . 
Illiterates over 21 years. 
Illiterates over 10 years. 
Illiterates 10 to 21 years. 


3,607 

6,112 

10,181 

16,786 

21,901 

5.115 


1,248 
1,202 
1,552 


2,359 
4,910 
8,629 


3,340 
5,582 


267 

260 


147,545 
174,620 
184,965 


1870. 






217,353 


1870. 
1S70. 


4,444 


17,477 


21,011 


S90 


217,353 
217,353 















When the figures are studied carefully and analyzed, they 
are not so startling as first appearances make them. Rhode 
Island was in no way to blame for illiteracy among so much of 
the foreign born population as came to the state after school 
age: nor for an increase in illiteracy, gross oi in proportion to 
population, due to a large immigration of foreigners; nor 
probably for the large increase in illiteracy among the colored 
population, recruited as it was after the Civil War by a migra- 
tion of freedmen from the south. Moreover, the gross figures 
for 1870 are for population over 10 years of age, while the 
statistics for earlier years start with 21 years. It was not 
comfortable, of course, to find so large a number of illiterate 
adults in a small democracy. 

The fact that there were over 5,000 illiterates between the 
ages of 10 and 21 years indicated a field for improvement. 
"There is still opportunity, if there is little hope" for these, 
wrote Commissioner Bicknell. "In a large degree they either 
belong to our truant and vagrant population . . . or to 
another class, which by the cupidity of parents or employers is 
obliged to pass the tender and formative period of childhood 
and youth in the factory, where nimble fingers are made to 



160 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

enrich the capitalist or to aid in the support of the family, at 
the expense of that necessary intelligence which fits boys and 
girls for the ranks of society and citizenship. Add to these a 
class of children whose only birthright is poverty, neglect and 
misfortune, who must keep the wolf and the sheriff from the 
door by early toil, trial and sorrow, and we have before us the 
unpromising minor illiterates of our state." 

Commissioner Bicknell proposed seven remedies : (1) Excel- 
lent common schools, (2) intelligent and interested public 
sentiment strongly positive in favor of universal education, 
(3) enforcement of a law forbidding the employment of children 
under 12 in factories, (4) enforcement of a law compelling 
factory children to attend school five months per year, (5) a 
truant and vagrancy law, (6) evening schools for persons over 
16 years of age, (7) a literacy test as a qualification for suffrage 
rights. 

Legislative Regulations. — The General Assembly responded 
immediately with (1) laws (a) forbidding the employment of 
children under 12 in factories, (b) requiring children under 15 
employed in factories to attend school at least three months 
each year and limiting the period of legal employment to nine 
months per year, and (c) requiring (instead of merely author- 
izing) towns to adopt truancy ordinances, and (2) with an 
appropriation for evening school support, to be apportioned 
by the State Board of Education. This was the beginning of 
state support of evening schools, but not the beginning of 
evening schools in Rhode Island. Public evening schools had 
been conducted in Providence from 1850, free evening schools 
under philanthropic auspices as early as 1842, and private 
evening schools from 1800. 

Improved Attendance Laws.— Later statutes dealing with school 
attendance and truancy have produced an almost perfect law. 
Since 1878 an annual census of children of school age has been 



SURVEY AND REORGANIZATION. 161 

required by statute. Since 1887 the appointment of truant 
officers has been required in every town in the state. In 1887 
the penalty for failure to adopt a truancy ordinance was made 
foifeiture of one-half the town's share of state school money. 
In 1902 the state assumed responsibility for enforcing attend- 
ance laws through a statute providing penalties for truancy 
and neglect to send children to school! The law has reached 
beyond the child to his parent or guardian, requiring the person 
in custody of the child to send him to day school regularly. 
The period of school attendance has been increased; in 1887 it 
was made 80 days; in 1898 it became one full term, or half the 
school year, in Providence; since 1902 it has been the full school 
year throughout the state. A beginning was made in 1887 of 
requiring children aged from 12 to 15 years, at work, to present 
certificates of school attendance. As the law stands now, 
children (1) between the ages of 7 and 16 years, and children 
(2) in their 15th and 16th years, who are not regularly employed, 
are required to attend day school regularly until they have 
completed the studies taught in the first eight years of school 
attendance, exclusive of kindergarten instruction. The child 
and his parent or guardian are responsible for his attendance. 
No child under 16 may be employed in a factory or other 
business establishment without a certificate that the child is 
14 years of age, able to read and write legibly simple sentences 
in the English language, and is of sound health and physically 
fit for employment. Children under 14 who have completed 
the elementary school grades may not be employed in factories, 
and must attend school if sent there by parent or guardian; 
but the obligation of the parent to send the child to school ends 
when the elementary school work is completed. The machinery 
of enforcing the law centres in the school committee, which (1) 
is required to take an annual census of children of school age, 
which (2) has access to records of attendance and enrollment 
kept by teachers, which (3) is required to appoint truant officers, 



162 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

and which (4) issues age and employment certificates. The 
difference between the census total and total school enrollment 
indicates a field for work by the truant officer, while his duties 
include also attention to habitual and occasional truants among 
enrolled pupils. In lieu of attendance at public day schools, 
children may attend other schools or receive private instruction 
approved by the school committee. Truant officers and state 
factory inspectors are charged with enforcement of the age and 
employment certificate law. Two defects in the law, (1) failure 
to limit the issuing of age and employment certificates to chil- 
dren who have actually secured employment, and exclusively for 
the particular employment secured ; and (2) failure to provide 
for the return of a certificate to the school authorities when the 
child is no longer employed, have been cured by legislation en- 
acted in 1916. An advance toward more perfect detail might be 
made through an extension of the school census to include 
children beyond school age, and by an extension of the age and 
employment certificate law to include children up to 18 years 
of age. The information that would be gathered were the 
census extended might indicate the value of a law requiring 
children under 18, not regularly employed, to attend school. 

PROVISION FOR TRAINING TEACHERS. 

The incompetency and inefficiency of teachers was a frequent 
cause for complaint and criticism of public schools in the first 
half of the nineteenth century. The utter inadequacy of wages 
paid was a sufficient explanation for indifferent quality of service 
rendered. And yet there were teachers in those old-time 
schools who overcame difficulties that would appall a modern 
teacher and who left memories that endeared them to their 
pupils. The odious comparison of the efficiency of modern 
schools with an alleged perfection in the little red district school 
is passing only with the death of the few lingering survivors of 
an ancient regime. It is impossible to believe that the practice 



SURVEY AND REOGANIZATION. 163 

of teaching has not improved with advancement of the science 
of education, the increasing and improving facilities for training 
teachers, and the wealth of accessories designed to help teacher 
and pupil. If it be granted that certain qualities in the perfect 
teacher seem to be intuitive and to develop almost instinctively, 
the concession amounts only to recognition of the fundamental 
principle that nothing can be made by man without suitable 
material. It is as impossible to make a good teacher out of a 
young man or a young woman who has no native ability and 
none of the "natural qualities" of a teacher, as it is to make 
good butter out of skimmed milk. Training makes the teacher 
with natural talent a better teacher. When for reminiscences 
of school days, written years after leaving school, based upon 
immature and untrained observation mellowed by the lapse 
of time, are substituted the opinions of mature contemporaries, 
written immediately after investigation, the picture of the 
perfection of the early teacher loses much of its glamor. 

Henry Barnard's Effort. — The necessity for training teachers 
was urged by Wilkins Updike in his memorable address in 1843. 
While Henry Barnard, in his reports, said little of inefficiency 
among teachers, he so persistently advocated measures for the 
improvement of teaching as to leave no doubt of his opinion. 
He did say that if teachers were properly examined "the public 
schools will cease to be cities of refuge for those who can find 
no abiding place elsewhere, or who assume the duties because 
they are less onerous or more lucrative than any other employ- 
ment for the brief period of three or four months." The meas- 
ures that he proposed for improving teaching were, principally, 
teachers' institutes, the purchase and circulation of books 
dealing with the science of teaching, the establishment of a 
model school, the establishment of a normal school, the exami- 
nation and certification of teachers, the circulation of educa- 
tional periodicals, and the substitution, in primary schools, of 
women for men teachers, the last for two reasons, based upon 



164 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

efficiency rather than competency, first, because women were 
better fitted for the work of teaching small children and would 
lend refinement to the lower schools, and, secondly, because 
their wages were about one-half the wages that must be paid 
to men teachers. 

Some progress toward the accomplishment of all but two of 
the improvements suggested by Henry Barnard was made before 
his resignation. An educational library of at least 30 volumes was 
placed in every town. He published his Journal of the Rhode 
Island Institute of Instruction for three years, and circulated it 
among the teachers of the state; it was followed by the Educa- 
tional Magazine, started by Commissioner Potter, and in 1855 
by the Rhode Island Schoolmaster. In 1874 the Schoolmaster 
was absorbed by the New England Journal of Education. The 
three Rhode Island publications were assisted by state appro- 
priations. Teachers' institutes were conducted by Henry Bar- 
nard and experienced teachers under his direction. The state 
made its first annual appropriation for teachers' institutes in 
1849. The Rhode Island Institute of Instruction, organized 
at Mr. Barnard's suggestion, received his hearty support and 
encouragement, and has had a continuous history since 1844. 
Women teachers gradually replaced men teachers. Mr. Bar- 
nard in one year helped 50 young women to positions. The 
provision for a model school was stricken from the Barnard 
school bill, and the normal school which the law of 1845 author- 
ized the Commissioner of Public Schools to establish was 
delayed. 

! First Normal Schools. — Commissioner Potter was a persistent 
advocate of a normal school, and through his efforts the first 
normal school in the state was established as a department of 
Brown University. In his report for 1850, he said: "It may 
be well to consider whether some arrangement may not be made 
by which the advantages now enjoyed by a few only, by means 
of the college, may be made more accessible to all, and may in 



SURVEY AND REORGANIZATION. 165 

some measure, perhaps, supply the want of a normal school. 
Brown University already has a complete organization. . . . 
To set up a new institution for education of teachers would 
require large expenditure of money, energy and time." In 
August, 1850, a committee of the General Assembly was ap- 
pointed to confer with a committee from Brown University on 
the establishment of a professorship of didactics, and to consider 
whether or not it is practicable for the state and the university 
to unite the office of Commissioner of Public Schools and said 
professorship in the same person. The result of the confer- 
ence does not appear in the Schedules by committee report, 
but in 1850 the university established a normal department, 
with Samuel S. Greene, then also Superintendent of Schools 
in Providence, as professor of didactics. The arrangement was 
short lived; it was imperfect for two reasons : (1) The univer- 
sity did not receive women as students, and (2) no provision 
was made for state free scholarships or other aid for students or 
the department. 

In 1852 a private normal school was established in Provi- 
dence with a faculty consisting of Professor Greene and Messrs. 
Russell, Colburn and Guyot, respectively, instructors in gram- 
mar, elocution, mathematics and geography. This school was 
a failure financially, because the tuition charges necessary, 
without public assistance, to maintain it at high grade were 
beyond the means of the clientage it must attract. It was 
abandoned after a short trial. Dana P. Colburn and Arthur 
P. Sumner, on May 29, 1854, opened a state-aided normal school 
in Providence, for which the General Assembly had appropriated 
$3,000, to be expended by the Commissioner of Public Schools. 
In 1857 the Commissioner of Public Schools was authorized to 
locate the normal school in Woonsocket or in the compact part 
of any town or city in the state, where it shall appear to him 
that suitable rooms can be had for a term of not less than four 
years without expense to the state. The norm 1 school was 



166 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

lemoved to Bristol. It was abandoned in 1865. The General 
Assembly, in 1866, began making rnnual appropriations to aid 
the training of teachers at academies and other institutions in 
various parts of the state. The present Rhode Island Normal 
School was established in 1871 in Providence. 

TOWN vs. DISTRICT SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION. 

The free school act of 1800 ordered the division of towns into 
school districts ; the ample power conferred upon school districts 
to raise money by taxation for schoolhouse building and school 
support was one cause for dissatisfaction with the act which led 
to its repeal. The law of 1828 permitted the division of towns 
into school districts, but conferred the taxing power exclusively 
on the freemen assembled in town meeting, and the adminis- 
tration of schools, including the location of schoolhouses and the 
hiring of teachers, exclusively on the town school committee. 
The law of 1839, while more ample in detail, changed the pro- 
vision for school support and school administration but little. 
Under it the school district became a body corporate, with 

4 

power to hold school property, but lacking the power to levy 
a tax of any kind without a special act of the General Assembly. 
By general law in 1844 school districts were given the taxing 
power. 

The Barnard School District Fallacy. — While Henry Barnard 
characterized school administration by the town system, that is 
exclusively by a town school committee, as the wisest course," 
his school law of 1845 raised the school district to the dignity and 
power of an administrative unit. It permitted school districts 
to build schoolhouses and assume the management of the district 
schools through school trustees. It permitted the school trus- 
tees to hire teachers, and to fix the time for keeping school. 
The powers entrusted to school trustees rivalled those conferred 
upon the town school committee. The law assured to each 



SURVEY AND REORGANIZATION. 167 

district a share in the state school money, which must be appor- 
tioned to districts, one-half equally and one-half in proportion 
to average daily attendance. It imposed no irrecusable obliga- 
tion upon the districts to support schools by taxation, for it 
permitted the raising of school money, beyond the state and 
town provision, by rate bill. The Barnard theory was that 
the districts would support good schools if given a reasonable 
measure of power to control the spending of money raised for 
the purpose. His law restricted the creation of weak districts 
and the division of populous districts in which graded schools 
were practicable. The theory was attractive and was generally 
accepted by educators at the period; experience proved that it 
was fallacious. To be sure, most wealthy districts maintained 
good schools, though there were districts in which wealth was 
concentrated in the hands of a few close-fisted obstructionists, 
or wealthy men who were willing to spend their money liberally 
to educate their own children in private schools and who cared 
nothing for the local district school. Populous and compact 
industrial districts failed to measure up to Henry Barnard's 
expectation that they would become centres for excellent graded 
schools. The populous and compact districts in Rhode Island 
were mostly factory villages, and the children worked instead 
of going to school. Small and weak districts were a constant 
care. 

The immediate, first effects of the Barnard district school 
organization were encouraging, although the improvement was 
in spots rather than universal. The best school districts built 
new schoolhouses and entered heartily upon the Barnard pro- 
gramme for improvement. Their example and the zeal of 
Henry Barnard stimulated others, but the laggards remained, 
and the inequalities usually produced by a district system, even 
in the confines of a single town, became apparent quickly. 
Every Commissioner of Public Schools after Henry Barnard 
recommended a radical modification of the district organization, 
or its abolition. 



168 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

His Own Recognition of the Fallacy. — Henry Barnard rec- 
ognized the advantages of town school organization. His act 
conferred upon towns the power ' to establish and maintain 
without forming or recognizing, when formed, such districts, 
a sufficient number of public schools of different grades, at con- 
venient locations, under the entire management of the school 
committee." The option given to the towns to lay off their 
territory into primary districts, or to maintain a sufficient num- 
ber of schools of different grades for all the children of the town, 
"was introduced," Henry Barnard remarked, "to meet the 
present practice of the towns of Warren, Bristol and Newport. 
It would be better for the cause of education if more of the 
towns would act under the power given in this paragraph. A 
classification of the children, not according to their location, but 
according to age, studies and proficiency, is the great object to 
be attained, and the facility for doing so, when enjoyed as now 
by compact villages, ought not to be thrown away." With 
this appreciation of the advantages of the town system already 
established in Rhode Island it is difficult to reconcile Henry 
Barnard's measures for enlarging the powers of districts, except 
on the ground of expediency— and expediency for the moment. 
The state problem was to be attacked by him in small sections. 
State responsibility was to be developed through local* respon- 
sibility. But, strengthening the hands of the districts meant, 
ultimately, a harder task to abolish them and establish a town 
system. And, meanwhile, the continuation of the district 
system involved the continuation of inequalities of taxation and 
inequalities of school privileges; the continuance of a division 
of authority in school administration; the continuance of decen- 
tralization and aberration from standards, when the crying 
need of the time was centralization and the attainment of 
standards. 

Hampering Legislation. — Legislation after 1845 tended to 
make the process of redeeming the state from the district system 



SURVEY AND REORGANIZATION. 169 

difficult. The act of 1845 gave towns the privilege of dis- 
regarding districts in reorganizing school systems under the act ; 
did it permit abolition of districts or disregard of districts once 
a district system was established or recognized after the act of 
1845? It permitted school committees to take over the man- 
agement of schools in districts which failed to organize or to 
keep school; it permitted districts to surrender control of dis- 
trict schools to town school committees, if the town consented. 
It made no clear provision for town rights over districts com- 
plying with the law and not willing to surrender district privi- 
leges. Revisions of the school law repeated the language used 
in the act of 1845. To a construction of the Barnaid law as 
conferring an option, which expired once it was exercised, a law 
enacted in 1846 gave sanction. This law was passed to quiet 
claims that the Barnard act abolished all districts existing prior 
to 1845 and required reorganization of every town system under 
the law of 1845. The law of 1846 confirmed the lines of existing 
districts until changed by the school committee. 

Revisions of the law proceeded with attention to language 
rather than to meaning. The revision of 1857, for example, 
(1) gave towns power to establish schools without forming dis- 
tricts, and (2) declared that "all existing districts shall con- 
tinue until legally altered," and (3) gave school committees the 
exclusive power to alter and discontinue school districts.* 
There was no definite provision in the law for the discontinuance 
of all districts. Moreover, the act of 1851 and subsequent 
school acts gave towns the power to build schoolhouses for 
districts, but forbade the assessment of taxes for this purpose 
on any district that had already built its own schoolhouse. 
Presuming that strong districts had provided schoolhouses, a 
town undertaking to help its weak districts was limited by the 
tax restriction. The restriction aimed at justice through the 

*Bul] vs. School Committee, 11 R. I. 244, upheld the committee's right to discontinue 
a district, by dividing it and joining the parts to other districts. 



170 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

equalization of taxation, and at encouraging districts to build 
without fear of "double" taxation, but it almost inhibited 
exercise by the town of the very power which the law conferred. 
Although the law specified and distinguished the powers of 
school committees and trustees, these officers were not in- 
frequently in conflict, while the intricacies of the law governing 
district meetings and proceedings, and the large number of 
separate organizations under the district system as compared 
with the small number of towns, multiplied the possibility of 
friction. Abolition of districts meant (1) a reduction in the 
number of school organizations or administrative units, (2) 
stronger school organizations through union, (3) a concentra- 
tion of power and responsibility in the hands of school com- 
mittees, (4) freedom for the towns in dealing with educational 
problems, besides (5) all the possibilities of improvement 
through consolidation and grading of schools. The law of 1845 
permitted the union of primary districts to conduct a union 
secondary or grammar school, and the union of contiguous dis- 
tricts in the same and adjoining towns to conduct union schools, 
without the loss of the shares of the original districts in school 
appropriations. But the law left the town's power to abolish 
districts or to unite all districts, by vote of the town, doubtful. 
The law of 1872 omitted the clause confirming district lines. 
In 1884 the General Assembly removed the doubt by passing a 
law conferring the power to abolish school districts upon the 
town meeting, and 20 years later, abolished all districts re- 
maining.* 

ORIENTATION OF THE COMMISSIONER. 

The Commissioner of Public Schools was an entirely new 
officer in Rhode Island; he must find his place. Of this officer 

*Comstock vs. School Committee, 17 R. I. 827, denied the right to take the vote to 
abolish districts in district meetings ; action must be taken in town meeting. The act 
abolishing districts was held to be constitutional. In re School Committee, North Smith- 
field, 26 R. I. 165 ; confirmed 34 R. I. 526. And see 18 R. I. 417. 



SURVEY AND REORGANIZATION. 171 

Henry Barnard said: "The officer whose appointment is pro- 
vided for in this section should be selected with special reference 
to his knowledge and experience in all matters relating to schools, 
school systems and education generally, and should have no 
connection with political parties into which the legislature or 
the community may be divided on local or national questions. 
Experience in other states has shown that the selection of the 
proper person had better be left to the governor or a small body, 
while the legislature exercises an effectual check on the employ- 
ment of an incompetent person in their control of his compen- 
sation. . . . The report of the Agent of Public Schools for 
the year will show some of the ways in which an officer charged 
with the broad and general duties contemplated . . . can 
advance the interests of public schools and of popular education 
generally. Great as are the benefits which should result from 
the faithful discharge of his public duties, such as the visitation 
and examination of schools, and addresses in schools and public 
meetings, they are few and small compared with the benefits 
which the Commissioner might and ought to render by his 
personal communication with school officers and parents." 

Functions of the Commissioner. — The law made the Commis- 
sioner more than a genial conversationalist or correspondent. 
Besides being (1) an educational expert competent to advise 
the General Assembly in its capacity as a state school com- 
mittee, (2) a publicity agent for projects for school improvement, 
(3) an efficiency agent for awakening and maintaining public 
interest in schools, and (4) the amiable counsellor of school 
officers, teachers and parents, the specific duties prescribed for 
the Commissioner made him (5) dispenser of the state school 
money, (6) a state superintendent of schools with visitorial and 
inquisitorial powers, (7) an agent charged with the improvement 
of teachers and teaching, (8) a school statistician, and (9) a 
judicial officer whose function it was to reduce the friction of 
parts and attend to the mechanics of a small system of laws 



172 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

involving, however, a multiplicity of public interest. He must 
be an expert educator, a sound counsellor, an able adminis- 
trator, a firm executive, an efficient diplomat, and a just man — 
the last to protect himself from the entanglements with which 
his intimate and intricate relations with so many officers and 
people threatened him. His judicial power was of the utmost 
importance, because it strengthened his position in most other 
relations. It gave his advice a weight that it could not have 
had otherwise, for a school officer or school committee which 
neglected the advice of the Commissioner of Public Schools ran 
the risk of having his or their action reviewed by the Commis- 
sioner on appeal. 

Efficiency of Commissioner Potter.— Henry Barnard's per- 
sonality and prestige and the assured support of many of the 
most influential men in the state gave him an authority bound 
to be respected. His successors must meet the real test. For- 
tunately his immediate successor, Elisha R. Potter, afterward 
an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Rhode Island, was 
an able exponent of the judicial authority. The General 
Assembly established important precedents during the Barnard 
administration by referring petitions for the adjustment of 
school disputes to the Commissioner of Public Schools for 
settlement, in sharp contrast to its procedure before the adop- 
tion of the Constitution in hearing appeals from and setting 
aside judgments of its established courts.* Thus the appellate 
jurisdiction of the Commissioner of Public Schools was con- 
firmed at the outset by the power which created it. But the 
General Assembly took a backward step by paying Commis- 
sioner Potter a smaller salary than it had provided for Com- 
missioner Barnard. Commissioner Potter's salary should have 
been the same as Commissioner Barnard's if his services were 
worth as much to the state; if they were not worth the estab- 

*Held unconstitutional. In re Dorr, 3 R. I. 299 ; Taylor vs. Place, 4 R. I. 324. Before 
the adoption of the Constitution the General Assembly exercised supreme judicial authority. 



SURVEY AND REORGANIZATION. 173 

lished salary, the state should have sought a man for the office 
who was worth the compensation. As a matter of fact, Com- 
missioner Potter proved to be an excellent official. He grasped 
the opportunity to save the office and to save the state from 
ieaction and retrogression. He was well prepared to do this by 
training and by actual experience as an associate and assistant 
of Henry Barnard. While the latter was ill and absent from the 
state in 1846, Mr. Potter prepared for publication a codification 
of the school law, with explanatory remarks and commentaries, 
and a set of 39 forms for use by school officers in transacting 
school business under the statutes. A second edition, including 
amendments to the law, was printed in 1847. In 1851 Com- 
missioner Potter published the text of the revised school law, 
written in part by him, with remarks and commentaries and a 
set of revised forms. His series of thirteen decisions, most of 
them approved by a justice of the Supreme Court, established 
the appellate jurisdiction of the Commissioner of Public Schools 
by exercise and precedent. Finally, as Associate Justice of the 
Supreme Court in 1873, he wrote the opinion of the court in the 
Appeal of Cottrell, 10 R. I. 615. This decision held that the 
appellate jurisdiction of the Commissioner of Public Schools 
is not limited to complaints arising from infraction of law, but 
extends to reviewing acts within the discretion of school officers. 
The decision overruled a contrary ruling in Gardner's Appeal, 
4 P. I. 602. Commissioner Allyn likewise upheld the judicial 
authority of his office; Chief Justice Ames confirmed his ruling 
that the decision of the Commissioner of Public Schools, after 
approval by a justice of the Supreme Court, is final, and may 
not be set aside for rehearing. The position of the Commis- 
sioner was further strengthened by the decision in Smith's 
Appeal, 4 R. I. 590, holding that the Commissioner's finding of 
facts is conclusive; and that a justice considering the Commis- 
sioner's decision for approval may review only findings of law. 
These decisions define the appellate jurisdiction of the Com- 



174 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

missioner of Public Schools thus: 1. An appeal need not rest 
upon a violation of law. 2. The Commissioner's finding of 
facts is final. 3. The Commissioner's interpretation of the law 
is final when confirmed by a justice of the Supreme Court. 
4. His tribunal is a court of policy as well as of law. 

Henry Barnard had been the confidential adviser of the 
General Assembly, which invited him to deliver his reports 
personally and orally. Not all of his suggestions were adopted. 
The act of 1845 differed materially from the bill drawn and 
advocated by Henry Barnard, although the latter, in most 
respects, was rather a codification of than a radical departure 
from existing school law, custom and practice. Commissioner 
Potter's influence with the General Assembly was almost as 
great as Henry Barnard's. Born in the same year as Henry 
Barnard, 1811, Elisha R. Potter was son of Elisha R. Potter, 
lawyer, state legislator and congressman, who served the state 
in the General Assembly from 1796 to his death in 1835 almost 
continuously, save for four terms in Congress. The younger 
Potter was Adjutant General of Rhode Island in 1835 and 
1836, Representative in Congress, 1843 to 1845, assistant to 
Henry Barnard in 1846, and member of the General Assembly 
many terms. Thus he was a trained public officer, besides 
being by profession a lawyer.* 

Under Commissioners Barnard and Potter the state depart- 
ment of public schools was for 10 years in close touch with the 
General Assembly. But after that the Commissioner's in- 
fluence diminished; he became less an adviser than an- officer 
whose relation to the General Assembly was confined to pre- 
sentation of an annual report. Commissioner Potter probably 
foresaw this condition; he realized the limitations of an office 
clothed principally with advisory powers. In 1855 he recom- 
mended the creation of a state board of education as an 



♦Henry Barnard was admitted to the bar in Connecticut in 1835. Horace Mann was a 
lawyer. Commissioner Draper of New York was a lawyer. 



SURVEY AND REORGANIZATION. 175 

agency for strengthening his department. This reform was 
adopted in 1870 on the recommendation of Commissioner 
Bicknell. Although the State Board has become the repository 
of many powers which might naturally fall to the Commissioner 
of Public Schools, his position as Secretary of the Board, as its 
expert adviser and as its agent with almost plenary powers, is 
even more influential than when he was the solitary state school 
officer. Still he was, until in 1896 the city of Providence was 
brought under the general state school law, an officer deprived 
of jurisdiction in the largest and most prosperous city in the 
state, maintaining the most elaborate school system. Only 
one Commissioner of Public Schools has ever made a direct 
appeal to the people or has sought through extensive use of the 
the press to create and stimulate popular agitation. That his 
course was necessary it is difficult to believe; it was character- 
istic of a man whose penchant for the spectacular led him to 
seek such an outlet for his exuberant energy. Like his prede- 
cessors and successors, he was an able school officer, and he 
accomplished important progress in his few years of service. 
The time was ripe for the progress, however. The Commis- 
sioner of Public Schools has been, as a rule, a man who has 
worked quietly and unostentatiously, persistently and con- 
scientiously, for school improvement. 

SUMMARY. 

By direction of the General Assembly, Henry Barnard made 
a survey of Rhode Island public schools in 1843-44. 

The General Assembly, in 1845, enacted a school law drafted 
by Henry Barnard, which reorganized the public school system 
and established the foundation for the present public school 
system. 

The most important immediate effects of the work of Henry 
Barnard were a splendid improvement in the physical condition 



176 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

of schools, a marked advance in the qualifications of teachers, 
and an awakening amongst the people of the state of a genuine 
interest in education. 

Much as Henry Barnard accomplished in his five years of 
service, more remained to be done, to carry into complete effect 
the projects which he had undertaken, to solve the problems 
which he had not solved, and to organize the system of schools 
to meet the conditions which, though not clearly foreseen, were 
the natural consequences of the changes wrought under Henry 
Barnard's leadership. 

This chapter has selected six major problems, for analysis 
and for study of their solution in experience. While this treat- 
ment is advantageous for critical study, it involves a serious 
danger that the essential unity of school administration may 
be lost sight of. It has seemed desirable, therefore, to present 
in the following chapter a chronological record. 



CHAPTER V. 



PUBLIC SCHOOLS TO FREE SCHOOLS. 



Six major problems awaited solution in 1845 to perfect the 
system of public schools little more than outlined by the Bar- 
nard school act. Combined with minor problems, some original 
and many arising after 1845, altogether they made up a general 
problem for school improvement confronting the General Assem- 
bly, the Commissioner of Public Schools and other school 
officers. Solution of the major problems was not undertaken 
seriatim; the general problem was unitary. The following 
series of dates records chronologically important events marking 
progress toward the perfection of the system of elementary 
schools in Rhode Island : 

1868. Abolition of rate bills. 

1870. State Board of Education established. 

1871. Rhode Island Normal School established. 

1873. Appellate jurisdiction of Commissioner of Public 
Schools defined by the Supreme Court. 

1882. Town maintenance of public schools made mandatory. 

1884. Maximum state general school appropriation attained. 

1884. Abolition of school districts permitted. 

1893. Free textbooks ordered. 

1898. State certification for all public school teachers. 

1902. Full term school attendance made compulsory. The 
state assumed responsibility for enforcing attendance. 

1904. All remaining school districts abolished, and the town 
system established throughout the state. 



]78 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

Abolition of tuition and free textbooks were necessary to 
make the public schools absolutely and completely free for all. 
Free schools must precede effective compulsory attendance 
laws, and compulsory attendance is necessary to insure universal 
education. Unless the state assumes the entire burden of school 
support, maintenance by sub-divisions of the 'state must be 
mandatory to insure schools in every section. The abolition 
of districts was an administrative reform, supplementing the 
mandatory town school support law. No satisfactory school 
system can be maintained without trained teachers; hence the 
necessity for a normal school, and state certification. A reason- 
able uniformity of conditions and progressive improvement 
require a strong central supervisory authority; hence the im- 
portance of the State Board of Education and the definition 
of the powers of the Commissioner of Public Schools. Thus 
each reform played its part in solution of the general problem. 

A DECADE OF PROGRESS. 

Henry Barnard's work as Commissioner of Public Schools was 
interrupted by serious illness, which ultimately forced him to 
resign with the tremendous task of physical rehabilitation of the 
public schools of the state still uncompleted. Of the progress 
made in six years, Commissioner Potter reported in 1850 that 
of 322 school districts 231 owned schoolhouses. In six years 
from 1844 more than $150,000 had been expended outside of 
Providence, which, with $210,000 devoted to rebuilding and 
new construction in the city, brought the total expenditure for 
buildings and equipment in Rhode Island to $360,000.* In 
1850 the state assessed its first general tax for school support, 
and increased its annual appropriation to $35,000 in 1850, and 
to $50,000 in 1854. The normal department in Brown Uni- 
versity, the private normal school of 1852 and the state-aided 

♦Expenditures for buildings, sites, and equipment in each of two recent years have 
exceeded twice the amount spent in the six years from 1844 to 1850. 



PUBLIC SCHOOLS TO FREE SCHOOLS. 179 

normal school of 1854 were projects promoted by Commissioner 
Potter. 

Commissioner Potter's services in interpreting the Barnard 
act were invaluable. Details of the law were perfected, the law 
was revised in 1851, the appellate jurisdiction of the Commis- 
sioner of Public Schools was established through exercise and in 
practice, and uniformity was given to school administration and 
school reports through the preparation of accurate forms. Com- 
missioner Potter was influential in repressing the religious con- 
troversy threatened by the opening of Roman Catholic parochial 
schools in a period when Know Nothingism was rising and lines 
were being drawn sharply elsewhere. He opposed legislation 
that would have brought State and Church into open conflict. 
Though measures were proposed which would have restricted the 
parochial schools, and tax exemption was limited for a brief period 
in 1855, the only measure of the period dealing with other than 
public schools proved ultimately beneficial to both public 
and private schools. This act conferred upon school committees 
the right to visit and inspect tax exempt institutions of learning 
and asylums. It was the beginning of legislation which bought 
parochial and other private schools under public supervision, 
sufficiently to insure universal education without prohibiting 
attendance at other than public schools. 

Together the Barnard and Potter administrations com- 
prised ten years of earnest support of practically a consistent, 
unchanged policy. While Commissioner Potter had been 
Commissioner Barnard's associate and assistant, he was more 
than merely a disciple of Henry Barnard. He was the practical 
man of affairs needed to carry into effect the work planned by 
Henry Barnard. He grew with years of ripening experience and 
devotion to public education. He had a vision of a higher edu- 
cation supported by the state, discussing in one report the place 
of a college in a state educational system. He believed that 
Rhode Island was backward in educational progress, and, 



180 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

though he was consistent and persistent in advocating certain 
reforms, he was conservative rather than radical. He never, 
as Commissioner, passed beyond the notion of opportunity for 
public education into the modern conception of universal 
compulsory education. 

YEARS OF QUIET DEVELOPMENT. 

The third Commissioner of Public Schools was a clergyman, 
Rev. Robert Allyn of East Greenwich. His most important 
contributions to school history were a thorough investigation of 
truancy and absenteeism, undertaken at the request of the 
General Assembly in 1856, and the beginning of more complete 
statistical school reports than had been presented by his pre- 
decessors. The more important facts disclosed by his truancy 
and absence report were these: Children of school age, 30,749; 
children under six years in school, 2810; children over 15 years 
in school, 2343; due at school, 35,902. Children registered or 
enrolled in public schools, 27,130; in private schools, 2690; 
total enrollment, 29,820; not enrolled, 6082. Average attend- 
ance, 19,330; habitually absent, 6865; unable to attend, 532. 
This report, while lamenting poor enrollment and low average 
attendance, did not deal adequately with causes, and suggested 
no practical remedies. In his first report Commissioner Allyn 
recommended restriction of textbook abuses, abolition of dis- 
tricts, a state certificate law for teachers, and the provision of 
dictionaries and reference books at state expense, the last a 
measure adopted years after Commissioner Allyn's retirement. 
His decisions exceeded those of Commissioner Potter in number, 
and were important in substance, but his later reports to the 
General Assembly did not maintain the vigorous tone of his 
first report. They became pedagogical and better suited for 
addresses to meetings of teachers than to the General Assembly. 
Commissioner Allyn ranked neither with Henry Barnard as a 
schoolman, nor with Commissioner Potter as an administrator. 



PUBLIC SCHOOLS TO FREE SCHOOLS 181 

He lacked the clear understanding of school problems possessed 
by the former, and the legal and practical knowledge, and force 
of the latter. His administration marked the beginning of a 
period in which the department of education and the General 
Assembly tended to drift apart. Commissioner Allyn resigned 
his office to accept the chair of languages at Athens University, 
Ohio. He was subsequently President of Cincinnati Wesleyan 
Female College, President of McKendree College, and President 
of Southern Illinois Normal University. 

John Kingsbury, Commissioner. — John Kingsbury was ap- 
pointed Commissioner of Public Schools in 1858, following his 
retirement in the same year after 30 years as principal of Dr. 
Stockbridge's High School for Young Ladies. Although 58 
years of age, he entered upon his duties as Commissioner with 
commendable vigor, visiting almost every school district in the 
state in the year of his incumbency. In this survey of the 
schools undertaken 15 years after the beginning of the Barnard 
movement, he found many towns still far behind the general 
average standard for the state, although he was optimistic. 
His report uncovered the inequalities of school conditions 
produced by the district system. He said: "The most re- 
markable circumstance to be noticed ... is the great 
contrast, not so much between the structure and condition of 
the schoolhouses of the various towns — though there is here 
enough to challenge attention — as between the structure and 
condition of the schoolhouses of the same town, and sometimes 
between those of adjacent districts. Why is this so ? Here 
is the same school law operating equally for the good of both, 
the same school committee to whom supervision of each is 
committed. In the one district you will find the schoolhouse 
beautiful, commodious, everything without and within being 
so arranged as to attract and win the hearts of the young. In 
the very next district everything is reversed. Instead of 
attraction, the prevailing principle as seen in the schoolhouse 



182 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

and its surroundings is repulsion. Again it may be asked, why 
is it so ? It is found on inquiry that there is an equal amount 
of wealth in both districts, an equal number of children to be 
educated, and that these children are equally dependent upon 
their education for the stations in life which they are to occupy. 
It may be found that all this difference may be traced to the 
activity, energy and liberality of a single individual. May such 
individuals be multiplied till not a discreditable schoolhouse can 
be found in Rhode Island." 

It is clear from the quotation, as from Mr. Kingsbury's 
career, that he was not a public schoolman, and that he had not 
grasped the fundamental errors of the district system, though 
he recognized their effects. Indeed, he started on his work with 
the assumption that the school laws of the state were as nearly 
perfect as they could be made, and that his duty lay in sug- 
gesting improvements in the schools themselves rather than in 
the system. He found "great contrast ... as between 
the structure and condition of the schoolhouses of the same 
town," and wondered why it was so, with "the same school law 
operating equally for the good of both." He did not realize that 
without a central authority, with power to enforce it, no general 
law operates equally. The supervisory powers granted to 
school committees, under the district system, were ineffective, 
and the Commissioner of Public Schools was unable to do more 
than suggest improvement while school support was not man- 
datory. Contrasts within the same town must be expected 
while districts were administrative units, with powers which 
might be exercised to produce great good, or neglected with 
consequent evil. Finally, his prayer for the multiplication of 
individuals whose ."activity, energy and liberality" produced 
the difference between "attraction" and "repulsion" in school- 
house conditions, was unworthy the head of the department of 
education in a democratic state. Mr. Kingsbury was a kindly, 
genial old gentleman, conscientious and painstaking, but he 



PUBLIC SCHOOLS TO FREE SCHOOLS. 183 

lacked the public view of education. He retired from office at 
his own request that he be relieved. 

Henry Rousmaniere, Commissioner. — Joshua B. Chapin suc- 
ceeded John Kingsbury as Commissioner of Public Schools in 
1859. Governor Sprague appointed Henry Rousmaniere Com- 
missioner in 1861 and 1862. Dr. Chapin returned to office in 
1863, remaining until 1869. The Civil War overshadowed 
school and all other interests during Mr. Rousmaniere's ad- 
ministration. He introduced a new feature in the School 
Reports. Earlier Commissioners had reprinted such town 
reports as reached the state office as appendices to their own 
reports to the General Assembly. Mr. Rousmaniere made selec- 
tions from the town reports and printed them topically, in 
such manner that it was possible by reference to any phase of 
school activity to find out exactly what every town reporting 
was doing in that line. 

Joshua Chapin's Recommendations. — Dr. Chapin advocated 
various reforms, among them a longer school year, the employ- 
ment of town school superintendents by all towns, increased 
state appropriations for school support, restriction upon the 
creation of new school districts, modification of the district 
system, employment of women teachers to replace men teachers 
in the lower elementary schools, and better wages for women 
teachers. He declared that a four months school year, the 
minimum standard since 1845, was uneconomical because of the 
time lost in organization every year, and wasteful because of 
the loss in the eight months between school terms. His remedy 
for one evil of the district system was transfer of the power to 
hire teachers from district trustees to school committees — an 
improvement that might have had far-reaching effect had it 
received the sanction of the General Assembly. The reform 
involved a return to the practice before the Barnard act. The 
same reform was advocated in the first report of the State Board 



184 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

of Education. It was accomplished only when districts and 
district trustees were abolished. He based his recommendation 
for the employment of women as teachers exclusively upon 
efficiency, not as had Henry Barnard partly on economy, for 
Dr. Chapin believed that women teachers should be paid better 
wages than was customary in his time. "I have yet to learn a 
good reason," he said, "why a female teacher doing the same 
service as a male teacher, and doing it better, should not have 
at least equal pay." "Females have peculiar talent, and when 
properly educated, have greater power over the manners, morals 
and minds of children. They have a stonger interest, more 
skill, patience, tact. They have a facility for placing them- 
selves in sympathy with young hearts. In matters of govern- 
ment and discipline they often succeed best where it was pre- 
dicted they would uniformly fail." His preference for women 
teachers was based on observation of school conditions. 

A law enacted in 1867 required the Commissioner of Public 
Schools to visit every school in the state annually, and provided 
$300 for travelling expenses. In 1868 Dr. Chapin reported that 
he had travelled 1200 miles and complied with the law — which 
was repealed the same year. He was enthusiastic over the 
improvement in school architecture which he found, and re- 
ported some decrease in absenteeism. Dr. Chapin had a 
thorough knowledge of school conditions, and was a keen and 
able critic. His reports were able and deserved better con- 
sideration than they received from the General Assembly, 
which adopted few of his recommendations. 

Fifteen Years of Reaction. — In the 15 years following the 
resignation of Commissioner Potter the Commissioner of Public 
Schools had retired from a position of prominence and influence 
in promoting school legislation, and had become merely a 
visiting supervisor of schools, whose contact with the General 
Assembly was confined to presentation of his annual report. 
His function as expert educational adviser of the General 



PUBLIC SCHOOLS TO FREE SCHOOLS. 185 

Assembly had been permitted to lapse from disuse. He was no 
longer the source and inspiration of school legislation. So wide 
was the gap dividing the General Assembly and the Commis- 
sioner that Dr. Chapin became an humble petitioner for relief 
for the Normal School at Bristol, gradually tottering to elimina- 
tion; whereas a forceful and resourceful Commissioner would 
have demanded remedial legislation and ample support, with 
greater prospect of success. Commissioner Chapin was an able 
schoolman, without the personal power to command in a critical 
situation. He neglected the juridical relations which the Com- 
missioner of Public Schools should have maintained with the 
General Assembly while he was still the only state school 
officer. His reports, excellent as they were in dealing with 
school problems, ignored comment upon the adoption and 
effect of legislation, including so important a measure as that 
which abolished rate bills, while the opportunity for a strong 
man which the United States land grant for college support 
presented was neglected altogether by him. The need for a 
State Board of Education was more pressing and more clearly 
perceived in 1870 than it had been when recommended by Com- 
missioner Potter in 1855. If the Commissioner of Public 
Schools was to be merely a schoolman, the state department 
sorely needed a board which should connect it with the political 
and legislative organization.* 

* Important school legislation from 1855 1862. An act extending the appellate 

to 1869, not already mentioned, included: jurisdiction of the Commissioner of Public 

1857. An act authorizing the Governor Schools, by permitting appeals without 

to appoint a special commission to visit proof that the appellant was "aggrieved" 

schools of design in France, Germany and or injured by the action complained of. 

England, for the purpose of ascertaining The law substituted the words "any per- 

the best means of improving manufactures son .. for » any person ag g r i eve d." 
dependent upon design. The act carried 

no appropriation; the purpose of the act 1867 - An act permitting towns to raise 

was to empower the Governor to issue to a by tax and appropriate not exceeding 25 

party already formed for the journey the cents per $100 of taxable property for 

credentials necessary to insure their recog- library purposes, 
nition abroad. 



1859. An act empowering school com- 
mittees to select school sites and condemn 



1869. An act increasing the salary of the 
Commissioner of Public Schools to $1500, 



land, not exceeding one acre, for each site. the amount paid Henry Barnard. 



186 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

AN OPPORTUNITY NEGLECTED. 

Senator Morrill of Vermont, in 1857, introduced in Congress 
an act granting public lands to the several states for the support 
of agricultural colleges. The bill was passed by Congress in 
1859, but vetoed by the President. A revised bill was intro- 
duced in 1861, passed June 19, 1862, and approved by the 
President, July 2, 1862. It provided for the granting of 30,000 
acres of public land for each Senator and Representative in 
Congress for "the endowment, support and maintenance of at 
least one college (in each state) whose leading object shall be, 
without excluding other scientific and classical studies, and 
including military tactics, to teach such branches of learning as 
are related to agriculture, in such manner as the legislatures of 
the states may, respectively, prescribe, in order to promote the 
liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the 
several pursuits and professions of life." No state was per- 
mitted by the act to locate public lands beyond its own borders ; 
the act provided for an issue of land scrip, which a state unable 
to locate lands might assign, the income of the fund realized 
from such a sale to be applied for the purposes named in the act. 
Rhode Island, in 1863, transferred its right to Brown University, 
stipulating that the university should establish a school or 
department of agriculture, pay all the cost of locating lands 
and perfecting titles, apply the income arising from the sale 
or other disposition of lands to the support of the agricultural 
school or department, and receive and educate beneficiaries 
of free scholarships at $100 per year up to the entire income. 
The General Assembly was to nominate, and the Governor and 
Secretary of State to appoint, beneficiaries from persons who 
would not otherwise have the means of obtaining a college 
education. 

The university's attempt to locate 40,000 acres of public land 
in Atchison, Kansas, before the land scrip was issued failed, 



PUBLIC SCHOOLS TO FREE SCHOOLS. 187 

the land claimed being assigned to a railroad company which 
had filed its location after the university's. Dismayed by this 
failure and the accumulating cost of locating land, for which 
the General Assembly declined to reimburse the university in 
any part, the university applied for and was granted permission 
in 1865 to sell the land scrip, realizing therefrom $50,000 in 
government bonds. 

A Hard Bargain and a Bad Owe.— The state had made a hard 
bargain with the university, and the latter had undertaken an 
obligation which it scarcely could afford to perform— that is, 
apply the income of the fund both to establishing and main- 
taining a school of agriculture and to free scholarships. A report 
by a committee of the General Assembly in 1869 that neither 
the state nor the university had acted in good faith seems to 
have been amply justified. The state had avoided its obliga- 
tion to establish a school of agriculture by assigning its land 
scrip to the university; the university had reached out for the 
endowment without having the means to conform to the terms 
of the grant. Its only compliance therewith was the designa- 
tion of certain courses of lectures on agriculture as a department 
of agriculture. Other committees of the General Assembly 
reported from time to time that there had been no practical 
compliance with the letter or spirit of the law. The university, 
on the other hand, asserted its willingness to provide practical 
instruction in agriculture if the state or citizens would provide a 
suitable farm for demonstration and experimental purposes, and 
money for the purchase of suitable apparatus and equipment, 
but contended that it was unable to do either from the land 
grant money or its income, while still yielding to the state the 
tuitions of holders of state scholarships. The General Assem- 
bly did nothing to relieve the situation; on the other hand, it 
continued to nominate beneficiaries for free scholarships at the 
universit}'. 



188 PUBLIC? EDUCATION IN EHODE ISLAND. 

A State Agricultural School. — In 1888 the state made an appro- 
priation for the establishment of an experiment station and 
agricultural school at Kingston, to which was assigned the 
$15,000 provided by the Hatch act of 1887, for the assistance 
of state experiment stations. Brown University, in 1890, 
offered to surrender to the state the $50,000 realized from the 
sale of land scrip. The General Assembly was not in session at 
the time and the Governor asked the Supreme Court for an 
advisory opinion. The court (17 R. I. 815) declared that the 
school at Kingston was not entitled to the Morrill grant, be- 
cause it did not purport to be a "college of agriculture and 
mechanic arts," and that Brown University, as the only institu- 
tion in the state of collegiate grade teaching agriculture, was 
the proper custodian. A law providing further Federal aid* 
by an annual appropriation for land grant colleges, promised 
to improve the situation so far as the university was concerned, 
and Brown University, in view of the court's opinion and the 
new act of Congress, withdrew its offer of surrender. The state, 
in 1892, designated the school at Kingston a college, and an 
agreement was negotiated with the university for a surrender 
of the original grant, upon payment of $40,000 to the university. 

Neither Rhode Island nor Brown University had realized in 
1862 or at any time in the 30 years that followed, an opportunity 
for both to make Brown University a state university. A com- 
paratively small annual state appropriation would have sufficed 
to start in the university a genuine agricultural department or 
college of agriculture, complying with the Morrill law, as the 
beginning of a state institution. Brown University lost its 
opportunity to obtain aid from the state, which must have been 
forthcoming had the university acted in complete good faith. 
Whether the result reached in 1892 — the establishment of a 
distinctly state college and the continued maintenance of the 
university as an independent, privately endowed institution — 

The Morrill act of 1890. 



PUBLIC SCHOOLS TO FREE SCHOOLS. 189 

was the wisest solution is still a subject for debate, with no 
prospect of substantial agreement, although with the continued 
progress of the Rhode Island State College, the debate tends 
to become academic rather than practical. Against the cost 
of duplication of plants must be set the advantage of having 
two institutions of collegiate rank in a small state, one of them 
the state's own college, and the other a university guaranteed 
by its charter the broadest possible liberty in teaching. 

Very few of the beneficiaries of free scholarships in Brown 
University under the Morrill grant became farmers. On the 
other hand, among them were one chief justice of the Supreme 
Court of Rhode Island, two associate justices of the same court, 
three or more justices of the Superior Court, several district 
court judges, clerks of courts, eminent lawyers whose leadership 
at the bar was undisputed, clergymen and physicians, editors, 
substantial and successful business men, more than one member 
of the State Board of Education, two college professors, a 
mayor of the city of Providence, a mayor of the city of Paw- 
tucket, a secretary of state, many members of the General 
Assembly. These were men who did not "have the means of 
obtaining an education for themselves." Their records in after 
life are indisputable proof that the income of the Morrill fund 
was used well by the State of Rhode Island and Brown Uni- 
versity, even if not for the purpose specified in the law and not 
probably to the best advantage ultimately. 

A VIGOROUS COMMISSIONER. 

Thomas W. Bicknell succeeded Joshua B. Chapin as Com- 
missioner of Public Schools in June, 1869. He renewed, in his 
first report, Commissioner Potter's recommendation, made in 
1855, that a State Board of Education be created, end the 
necessary legislation was enacted in 1870. 

State Board of Education. — A board of eight members was 
established, consisting of the Governor, Lieutenant Governor 



190 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

and six members elected by the General Assembly, two from 
Providence county, and one each from Bristol, Kent, Newport 
and Washington counties. "The general supervision and con- 
trol of the public schools . . . with such high schools, 
normal schools and normal institutions as are or may be estab- 
lished and maintained wholty or in part by the state," were 
vested in the new board. The Commissioner of Public Schools 
remained dispenser of the state school money, the state visiting 
and inspecting school pfficer, and the repository of judicial 
pqwer, and he became secretary ex-officio of the board. Instead 
of being appointed by the Governor by and with the advice and 
consent of the Senate, he was for some time nominated by the 
board for appointment by the Governor, but afterward elected 
by the board. He was directed to report to the board annually 
instead of to the General Assembly. The board, in turn, re- 
ported to the General Assembly, thus becoming the connecting 
link between the school department and the General Assembly. 
The Board of Education, in its report to the General Assembly 
in 1875, declared that it occupied only an advisory relation to 
the school system, with the exception of its power to elect the 
Commissioner. There is a vast difference, however, between 
a bare advisory power and an advisory power accompanied with 
the power to elect the officer to be advised. The Board of 
Education, in after years, became more influential, as its powers 
and duties were widened by the General Assembly. The crea- 
tion of the board made the Governor a responsible school 
officer through his position as President of the State Board of 
Education. Scarcely a Governor since 1870 has failed to devote 
a section of his inaugural message to schools and education, a 
fact of utmost importance, because no state paper receives 
wider circulation and is more generally read than the Governor's 
message. 

Rhode Island Normal School Established. — Commissioner 
Bicknell also undertook a vigorous agitation for the establish- 



PUBLIC SCHOOLS TO FREE SCHOOLS. 191 

merit of a state normal school. His appeal to the General 
Assembly was supplemented by an appeal to the people and the 
press. A popular demonstration, followed by a clambake, was 
held at Rocky Point under the leadership of the Commissioner ; 
the newspapers heartily supported the Commissioner. The 
Board of Education recommended a normal school in its first 
report to the General Assembly, and a free normal school was 
authorized in 1871, with an appropriation of $10,000. The 
management was entrusted to the Board of Education and the 
Commissioner, as a board of trustees. To provide for equaliza- 
tion of opportunity, provision for paying mileage for normal 
school pupils was made through an annual appropriation. 
Temporary quarters were established in Normal Hall, a build- 
ing previously occupied by the High Street Congregational 
Church in Providence. In 1875 the state purchased for the 
Normal School the high school building on Benefit street in 
Providence, which was renovated and occupied after the city 
high school was removed to the then«new building, the present 
English High school, on Summer street. A two-} r ear course 
was inaugurated. 

A Weak Certificate Law. — The Board of Trustees was also 
made a board for the examination and certification of teachers. 
School committees, however, retained similar power, and save 
for issuing certificates to graduates of the Normal School, the 
Board of Trustees issued only one certificate to a teacher up 
to 1879. In that instance a candidate rejected by a school 
committee demanded examination by the board, received a 
certificate and was appointed a teacher in a district school in the 
town whose school committee had refused him a certificate. 
The situation produced was exactly similar to that which had 
broken down the system of certification outlined in the Barnard 
act. Few teachers availed themselves of the higher certificate 
privileges provided by the law of 1845, and town committees 
were jealous of surrogation or interference with their preroga- 



192 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

tives. The Board of Education, in 1880, asked to be relieved 
of the obligation to examine teachers. It did not at that time 
realize the possibility of a better solution of the problem of 
certification; it should have demanded the exclusive right to 
examine and certify teachers, a power which it received in 1898. 

Agitation for a Longer School Year. — Commissioner Bicknell 
continued Dr. Chapin's advocacy of a longer school year. The 
school year in 1869 was 41 weeks, the maximum, in Providence, 
and it was 20 weeks, the minimum, in West Greenwich. In 
Providence a full 12 months school year established in 1800, 
was broken in 1832 by an August vacation of one week. The 
vacation was extended to two weeks in 1834, and to three weeks 
in 1849. Vacation periods between quarters were introduced 
in 1840, reducing the school year to 46 weeks. It became 45 
weeks in 1848, 44 weeks in 1855, 43 weeks in 1858, 41 weeks in 
1868, 40 weeks in 1875 and 39 weeks in 1888. The average 
public school year, outside of Providence and Newport, was 
three months in 1831. The Barnard act made the minimum 
legal school year four months. Wheieas the school year in the 
cities tended to decrease, the towns made a gradual advance. 
Commissioner Bicknell advocated a minimum of 35 weeks. 
The Revised Statutes of 1872 established the minimum at six 
months, a standard already attained by most towns. The 
average school year w? s 34 weeks in 1871, a record exceeded 
at that time by only one state; and it was 35 weel^s and 4 days 
in 1873, being then the longest in New England. It was nine 
months in 1876, but Commissioner StockM^ell then pointed out 
the deception of averages by showing the influence of towns 
maintaining 10 months schools in offsetting shorter school years 
elsewhere. In the law the minimum legal school year remained 
at six months until the abolition of districts in 1904. Whether 
there was a legal minimum school year between 1904 and 1909 
is doubtful; there was none after 1909 until 1914, when it was 
fixed at 36 weeks, a standard at that time maintained or- exceeded 



PUBLIC SCHOOLS TO FREE SCHOOLS. 193 

by every town in the state. Rhode Island maintains the 
longest legal minimum school year and the longest average 
school year in the United States. 

A Campaign Against Illiteracy. — Reference to Commissioner 
Bicknell's campaign against illiteracy and his proposed remedies 
therefor has already been made. In 1873 he named seven 
causes for poor enrollment in public schools: (1) Private 
schools, (2) Catholic schools, (3) evening schools, (4). employ- 
ment of children in factories, (5) early introduction of children 
into trades and other employment, (6) immigration, (7) truancy. 
In 1872 he advocated the establishment of a state industrial 
school, to provide a place for the commitment of neglected 
children and an institution for their education in useful in- 
dustrial arts. 

Among other measures which he recommended were con- 
solidation of school districts; extension of town control of 
schools, and more particularly of the powers of school com- 
mittees; expert supervision for schools; a general state tax for 
educational purposes, the revenue to be apportioned in such 
maimer as to relieve small towns of the heavy burdens of taxa- 
tion; a school census, as a first step toward improving school 
enrollment; salaries for school committeemen, whose service 
in Rhode Island has usually been without compensation; a 
reduction in the number of school officers, from the 2216 serving 
in various capacities in 1874; a state system of school examina- 
tions and supervision modelled on the Irish plan, which the 
Commissioner described as being then the best in the world; 
the introduction of instruction in drawing in all schools, as a 
study absolutely essential to the development of Rhode Island 
industries. Mr. Bicknell published a "School Manual" in 
1873, continuing under a new name the series of "Acts Relating 
to the Public Schools," printed in 1845, 1846, 1847, 1851, 1857 
and 1867. He began the accumulation of an educational library 
in the office of the Commissioner, for which he solicited dona- 



194 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

tions from publishers. The General Assembly made his salary 
$2000 in 1870. He resigned in 1874, to become editor of the 
New England Journal of Education in 1875. 

Commissioner BicknelVs Success. — Commissioner Bicknell's 
service to the state was important, not so much because of 
novelty or innovation in his recommendations, as because of the 
successful inauguration of so many of them during his tenure of 
office. In all of his measures for improvement there is scarcely 
one which had not been proposed at some earlier time by one or 
more of his predecessors. His renewal of Commissioner Potter's 
recommendation that a Board of Education be created, was 
made at a time when the need was pressing. Likewise the 
necessity for a normal school was clearly recognized ; the ample 
provision for establishing it was made possible by the repay- 
ment of the federal government's debt to the state for war 
expenditures. After 1870 the Board of Education was his 
powerful auxiliary in securing legislation. His own appre- 
ciation of the assistance of the board wps fervent; the board 
was equally gracious in its recognition of " a diligence, a wisdom 
and a contagious enthusiasm, which, it is believed, has resulted 
in lasting benefit to the cause." But Commissioner Bicknell 
did not, while he was Commissioner, reach the modern view of 
the state's lesponsibility for the education of all its citizens, 
much as the growth of illiteracy alarmed him. He was rather 
the last and one of the most forceful of an old line of Com- 
missioners of Public Schools, than the founder of a new dynasty. 

THE STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION. 

Created in 1870, with powers vaguely defined and advisory 
rather than functional, the Board of Education in its first report 
to the General Assembly advocated five measures for school 
betterment, as follows: (1) That towns be required to appro- 
priate for school support an amount at least equal to the school 



PUBLIC SCHOOLS TO FREE SCHOOLS. 195 

money received from the state; (2) that every town be required 
to employ a superintendent of schools; (3) that a normal school 
be established; (4) that towns be required to adopt ordinances 
dealing with truancy, and (5) that the hiring of teachers be en- 
trusted exclusively to school committees. All but the last of 
these recommendations were enacted into law by the General 
Assembly in 1871. Thereafter town appropriations must equal 
state appropriations, ample provision for a normal school was 
made, the permission previously granted to towns to deal with 
truants was changed to a requirement, and school committees 
were required to appoint superintendents of schools in towns 
which failed to elect such officers. Providence had appointed 
its first full-time superintendent of schools in 1839. Pre- 
vious to 1850 the practice of appointing school visitors had 
become established in several towns, and the law of 1851 sanc- 
tioned this practice and permitted the employment of super- 
intendents. In 1872 the Board of Education recommended 
better wages for teachers, an annual school census, voluntary 
co-operation of manufacturers in enforcing the child labor law of 
1855, which the Commissioner reported inoperative, and re- 
newed its recommendation that school committees be given 
power to hire teachers for district schools. In 1873 the Board 
proposed the establishment of an industrial school and the 
taking of a school census. 

The Board of Education's first important accessions of power 
were the right to elect the Commissioner of Public Schools, and 
the designation of the Board with the Commissioner as a board 
of trustees for the Rhode Island Normal School. When the 
state made its first appropriation for evening schools in 1873, 
the Board of Education was given supervisory powers and was 
made dispenser of the appropriation. In 1875 the board was 
entrusted with the apportionment of an appropriation to aid 
free public libraries. Many of the free public libraries estab- 
lished through the efforts of Henry Barnard and the philan- 



196 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

throphy of Asa Manton, who offered a donation of $100 to aid 
any public library for which an equal amount was raised, had 
disappeared. The act of 1875 appropriated annually $50 for 
the first 500 approved books in the library and $25 for each 
additional 500 books, up to $500, the maximum amount which 
any library might receive. The money paid by the state must 
be used for the purchase of books to increase the library. The 
Board of Education was given authority to establish rules 
prescribing the character of books approved, and regulating 
the management of libraries receiving aid, in such manner as 
to secure free use thereof by the people. 

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY AND EDUCATION. 

The abolition of rate bills, the two amendments that raised 
the annual school appropriation to $90,000, the appropriation 
of dog license fees for support of schools, the creation of the 
Board of Education in 1870, and the approval of four of five 
of the board's first recommendations in 1871, leave no doubt 
of the General Assembly's disposition toward educational reform 
in the period. On two matters the General Assembly hesitated 
to act; these were the abolition of school districts or radical 
interference with the district system, and school attendance. 
When the General Assembly could be persuaded to act at all 
with reference to attendance, the legislation was weak, if not 
impracticable and inoperative. Relations between the Assem- 
bly and the department as a rule were harmonious, in spite of 
the Assembly's neglect of some recommendations. There was, 
however, occasionally a note of discord. Such, for example, 
was the resolution adopted in 1874 appointing a committee to 
inquire into "the workings, cost and efficiency of the public 
school system of the state." It was repealed at the same 
session, and a committee was appointed to inquire into and 
report changes "which are necessary in the laws relating to 
public education." 



PUBLIC SCHOOLS TO FREE SCHOOLS. 197 

An act passed in 1874 threatened to break down the judicial 
procedure established by the Barnard act. For the provision 
permitting, or upon request requiring, the Commissioner of 
Public Schools to lay his decisions before one of the justices of 
the Supreme Court for review, the new law substituted review 
by the full bench. The change in the law followed the decision 
of Cottrell's Appeal* which determined the Commissioner's 
jurisdiction. The substitution of hearings in open court for 
review in chambers involved delay of final decision, besides the 
abandonment of most of the benefits of the earlier system. 
After a brief trial, in which the unwisdom of the change became 
apparent, the law of 1874 was repealed. 

A committee of the General Assembly, in 1875, examined 
thoroughly the question of tax exemption. The controversy 
that Commission Potter had repressed a generation earlier 
had been revived b}* - the incorporation of the Roman Catholic 
diocese of Providence after it was set apart from the diocese of 
Hartford, and by a rapid increase in the number of Catholic 
parochial schools and in the attendance of children of school 
age at these schools instead of at the public schools. It was 
anomalous, of course, that a state dedicated to religious liberty, 
which still hesitated to enact compulsory school attendance laws 
or adequate laws dealing with truancy, or laws effectively 
regulating the employment of children in factories, should 
interfere in any way with attendance at private or parochial 
schools. After four hearings, at which tax exemption was 
exhaustively debated, the committee reported a bill abolishing 
tax exemption of land, but exempting buildings used for religious 
and library purposes. The General Assembly was more liberal 
than its committee; the law that was enacted exempted land 
and buildings used for religious and library purposes and for 
free public schools. In a test case the Supreme Court decided 
that Catholic parochial schools, though charging no tuition, 

*10 R. I. 615. 



198 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

were not "free public schools." St. Joseph's Church vs. As- 
sessors, 12 R. I. 19. As it abolished tax exemption, the new 
law took away from school committees the right, established 
by law in 1855, to visit and inspect private and parochial schools. 
The truancy law of 1883 revived the right of school com- 
mittees, to the extent that it permitted school attendance at 
"approved" private schools in lieu of attendance at public 
schools, and. tax exemption was restored in 1894. 

The Commissioner of Public Schools was instructed to report 
at the May session in 1875 whether any and what means were 
used in the public schools "to implant and cultivate in the minds 
of all children . . . the principles of morality and virtue." 
Commissioner Stockwell's report was admirable. He cited the 
practice regulating the reading of the Bible and the opening of 
school sessions with prayer or other devotional exercises, and 
emphasized the importance of the teacher's influence and 
example. 

A MODERN COMMISSIONER — HIS FIGHT FOR 
COMPULSORY ATTENDANCE. 

Thomas B. Stock well succeeded Thomas W. Bicknell as 
Commissioner of Public Schools in January, 1875, remaining in 
office continuously until 1905. He had been a teacher in the 
Providence high school and editor of the Rhode Island School- 
master previous to his election as Commissioner. With him 
begins the distinctly modern history of Rhode Island public 
schools, for he was the first Commissioner of Public Schools to 
enunciate distinctly the doctrine of compulsory attendance. 
He advanced from the notion of the duty of the state to provide 
opportunity for education for all, to the obligation of the state, 
as the agent of society, to compel the education of all its citizens. 

Commissioner Stockwell, with the co-operation of the Board of 
Education, undertook, almost immediately after his election, 
an active campaign to improve school attendance. In his first 



PUBLIC SCHOOLS TO FREE SCHOOLS. 199 

report he declared that the great cause of non-attendance at 
school was the social condition created by the prevailing indus- 
trial organization. The fault lay partly with parents, but 
children themselves were quite as much to blame. The chil- 
dren's desire for pleasure and for dress and adornment beyond 
the means of the parent to supply, induced children to seek 
employment in order to obtain as wages the money needed to 
gratify their wishes. Quoting Horace Mann's axiom that every 
child has a right to education, Commissioner Stockwell declared 
that society had a right to demand that every child be educated, 
and that it was the duty of the state to enforce society's right. 
He recommended an annual school census, an industrial school 
and a state truancy law to replace municipal ordinances. He 
pointed out clearly that the act requiring towns to adopt 
truancy regulations merely attempted to shift a responsibility 
obligating the state, from the state to the towns, and also that 
the law, though mandatory in form, was ineffective because 
there were no way to compel a town to act, no penalty for failure 
to act, and no machinery for compelling enforcement if the town 
adopted an ordinance. 

Returning to the same subject in his second report, he again 
urged compulsory education, an industrial school and the 
provision of an institution to which truants might be com- 
mitted. Discussing illiteracy, he presented census figures to 
show that in a population of 205,101 over 10 years of age, 
7941 could not read and 24,168 could not read and write their 
own names; that from a school population of 53,316, approxi- 
mately 8000 did not attend any school. Again laying the 
blame for such conditions on the industrial system, he found 
the largest proportion of illiteracy among Irish and French- 
Canadian immigrants who were mill operatives. He declared 
that the law purporting to regulate truancy and the employ- 
ment of children in factories was so completely inoperative that 
few citizens knew such a law was on the statute books. He 



200 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN EHODE ISLAND. 

suggested an agreement with manufacturers to assist in enforc- 
ing the law. Governor Lippitt was enlisted in the good cause, 
and in his inaugural message urged an effort for improvement. 

Annual School Census.— In 1878 Commissioner Stockwell 
again recommended a school census, a state truancy law, a 
modification of the child labor law, the appointment of agents 
to enforce the laws, and compulsory enforcement. The Board 
of Education indorsed his recommendations. A law requiring 
towns to take a school census annually was enacted in 1878, 
furnishing the Commissioner of Public Schools and the Board 
of Education with the first accurate information on this im- 
portant subject, and with evidence adequate to prove the need 
for more legislation. In 1884 the Commissioner reported : 

The annual school census has now been taken for a sufficient 
number of years to demonstrate its value and reliability as a 
source of information not otherwise attainable. Its general 
results and conclusions are so well supported by collateral 
testimony that they justly command recognition and acceptance. 
Each successive census has revealed a steady, natural growth 
in the population of the whole state, and more than a corre- 
sponding increase in the number of non-attendants at school. 
The proportion of such persons by the present census is over 
25 per cent, of the whole school population. The significant 
fact to be noted in connection with these figures is that the 
ratio of increase for non-attendance is greater than that of the 
increase in the number of children, and that has been the case 
from the beginning of the school census. This shows beyond a 
doubt that we have actually lost ground in our contest with 
ignorance, instead of gaining or even maintaining our position." 

The State Board Aroused. — In 1883 the Commissioner re- 
ported, that of all the northern states, Rhode Island had the 
largest proportion of illiterates, "her percentage of all who are 
10 years of age and over being 11.2, against 5.9 for all other 
northern states and territories." More than a quarter of those 
of foreign birth could not sign their own names. The per- 
centage of native born white persons 10 years and upward who 
could not write was 2.9, "a rate double that of the rest of New 



PUBLIC SCHOOLS TO FREE SCHOOLS. 201 

England, nearly three times as large as that of Connecticut and 

four times that of Massachusetts." Taking up these statistics 

in 1884, the Board of Education declared : 

"Viewed absolutely, it may not be a serious menace to the 
welfare of the state that out of every 100 of its population above 
10 years of age somewhat less than three should not have 
attained even that slight amount of education which is indicated 
by the ability to write one's name. As long as Rhode Island 
stands last — and last by a considerable interval — in such a 
tabular statement as that to which reference is made, there is 
call for other action than self-congratulation. While we are 
not, however, disposed to make too much of this comparative 
exhibit, nor to forget that figures often mislead for want of 
proper interpretation, we find in it the suggestion of two im- 
portant needs, first of a right system, and second of a vigorous 
administration of the system. We undertake here no general 
discussion of our state system of public education. We only 
take the opportunity to reaffirm our conviction of the import- 
ance of making compulsory education one of its elements. 
With a population made up as ours is, and composed, in con- 
siderable measure, of persons whose immediate interest is 
opposed to the permanent interest of their children and of the 
state, no measure short of this will be found adequate to the 
need. That we should be behind other states, our neighbors, 
in the matter of educational attainment might be only our 
misfortune. That we should be behind them in recognizing and 
adopting the only efficient remedy for the trouble would be 
something other than a misfortune." 

A New Truancy Law. — Meanwhile, in 1883, the General As- 
sembly had enacted an absence and truancy law* embodying the 

* The important provisions of the law 3. The employment of children under 10 

were : in manufacturing or mechanical establish- 

1. Parents were required to send chil- rnents was forbidden. 

dren between the ages of 7 and 15 years 4. No child under 14 could be employed 

at least 12 weeks annually, six of which in such establishments without a certificate 

must be consecutive, to some public day that he had attended some public or private 

school, or to an approved private school, day school 12 weeks in the preceding year, 

unless the child was otherwise furnished and unless he attended school 12 weeks 

with the means of education, or had ac- each year; and no child under 14 who could 

quired the elementary branches taught in not write his name, age and place of resi- 

the public schools, or was mentally or dence legibly, could be employed while 

physically incapacitated. public schools were in session. 

2. School committees could approve 5, Town councils were required to ap- 
private schools only when the instruction point truant officers, (1) to investigate cases 
was in the English language, and thorough of failure to send children to school, (2) to 
and efficient, but could not refuse approval prosecute offenders, (3) to visit places where 
because of religious teaching. 



202 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

principles of compulsory attendance. The significant sections 
of the law (1) charged parents with responsibility for sending 
children to school, (2) required children working in factories to 
present certificates of school attendance, (3) provided for the 
appointment of truant officers, (4) forbade, while public schools 
were in session, the employment of children under 14 who were 
unable to write legibly their names, ages and places of residence, 
and (5) provided penalties for certain violations of the law by 
parents, truant children and employers, but (6) no penalty to be 
imposed upon towns failing to comply with the law. 

The law marked an advance, but it was far from being 
satisfactory. The Commissioner of Public Schools in 1884, 
said that "the chief defect in the law is that it does not provide 
positively for its enforcement. Its provisions are clearly man- 
datory, but there is no power lodged anywhere to make the 
command obligatory. As it is, the city of Providence and a 
number of towns have failed utterly to comply with the law in 
their municipal capacity. . . . Either a penalty clause 
should be added to the law, or the state should assume charge 
of the matter." This defect in the law was not even partly 
remedied until 1887, when it was provided that a town which 
failed to adopt a truancy ordinance should forfeit one-half its 
share of state school money. 

The State Board Still Dissatisfied. —The Board of Education's 
criticism* was more detailed and more emphatic. The Public 

children were employed and enforce the tificates, or of children under 14 who could 

certificate law. not write, (3) for employers who refused 

6. Towns were required to adopt regu- to permit inspection of certificates or to 
lations concerning habitual truants and furnish information for truant officers, and 
children found wandering about in the by commitment (4) for children arrested 
streets, having no lawful occupation or as truants or vagrants. 

business, not attending school, and growing 

up in ignorance, and to designate places for * The text of tne Board's comment fol- 

the confinement, discipline and instruction ' ows • 

of such children. "The logic of events is carrying the state 

7. Penalties, by fine, were provided (1) forward to full recognition of the necessity 
for parents neglecting to send children to of assuming the responsibility of the school 
school, or permitting the employment of system and its maintenance. Heretofore 
children under 10 years of age, (2) for em- the legislation of the state has been mainly 
ployers of children under 14 without cer- permissive, not mandatory. It has made 



PUBLIC SCHOOLS TO FREE SCHOOLS. 



203 



Statutes of 1882 had cured the defect in the school law on 
which the decision in Wixon vs. Newport* was based, replacing 
with a mandatory statute the legislation that merely per- 
mitted town support of public schools. The influence of the 
decision appeared in the language of the board. Asserting (1) 
that "the logic of events is carrying the state forward to full 
recognition of the necessity of assuming the responsibility of a 
school system and its maintenance," and (2) that legislation 
had "been mainly permissive, not mandatory," and (3) that 
the assumption that "an offer of a free education opening the 
pathway of usefulness and honor to all . . . would be 
universally accepted" had not been justified, and (4) that "the 
present illiteracy of Rhode Island is conspicuous and humilia- 



laws according to which communities may 
sustain schools, and has levied taxes to en- 
courage communities to do so, but it has 
not made schools necessary, nor has it taken 
upon itself to provide them. And to some- 
thing equivalent to this the state is now 
being forced by events. The argument in 
a nutshell is this : The people must be 
thoroughly educated, but they never have 
been by a voluntary system, and they never 
can be. It has only been when the state 
takes upon itself to see that every child 
receives proper instruction that the work 
is thoroughly done. 

" It has been taken for granted that if an 
offer of a free education opening the path- 
way of usefulness and honor to all was 
really made, it would be universally ac- 
cepted. The assumption has not been 
justified. It costs the American mind a 
severe trial to bring itself to confess that 
the reasons for education in our republie 
cannot be so forcibly stated as to induce 
every parent and guardian to make the 
necessary sacrifices to insure it. Public 
opinion unformulated in law has not and 
will not do it. It is clear enough that where 
everything depends upon the will of the 
people, that will ought to be enlightened; 
that what is wise may be chosen and what 
is unwise may be rejected. It is perfectly 
clear that if the will of the nation is ignorant , 
every national interest is imperilled. The 
material welfare is endangered, the institu- 
tions and safeguards of social progress are 

*13 R. I. 454. 



menaced, and liberty itself has no guaranty. 
All this is clear, but it is no clearer than 
that John Doe has no right to appropriate 
Richard Roe's pocketbook — but he does it. 
And so thousands of children, after munici- 
palities and the state have lavishly afforded 
the means of education, have grown up and 
are growing up in ignorance. The present 
illiteracy of Rhode Island is a conspicuous 
and humiliating illustration. And the con- 
viction has obtained that the situation 
cannot be improved upon the old lines of 
action. Not that the old policy is to be 
abandoned, but it must be supplemented by 
decisive state action. 

"Religious zeal, which did so much for 
the New England schools in the days of 
the Puritans is a diminutive force now, 
owing to many causes, the diversity of 
religious views in the population of the 
country being doubtless the principal one. 
Patriotic regard for the nation's prosperity 
and honor has induced an educational ex- 
penditure greater than that of any nation 
on the globe. Philosophy and philan- 
throphy have contributed their aid with 
unparalleled zeal. The former has set 
forth the vast and far-reaching economic 
rewards of intellectual training in a land so 
rich as this. The latter has found in the 
brilliant promise of the future a field for 
the exercise of marvelous enthusiasm. It 
cannot naturally be expected these forces 
will prove more effective in the future than 
in the past, and the conclusion seems irre- 



204 



PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 



ting," the Board of Education said: "Education should no 
longer be merely offered; it should be required." While hesi- 
tating to accuse the General Assembly of "inconsistency and 
cowardice," although the time for such accusation "rapidly 
approaches," the Board of Education characterized the new 
truancy law as, "though an encouraging advance," not "a 
right-out, square declaration by the state that ignorance must 
be stamped out, and every child God has made capable of 
intelligent citizenship shall be qualified as such." 

Gain Under the New Law. — The immediate effect of the law of 
1883 was a gain in total enrollment, and an apparent gain in the 
percentage of enrollment to school population, which was 78.7 



sistible that our present methods are de- 
fective and ought to be supplemented. The 
urgency is intensified when we consider the 
vast immigration that is pouring itself from 
every land upon us, and the fact that the 
native American population does not in- 
crease so rapidly as the foreign born. At 
the present rate, the time is not very far 
distant when those of mixed and foreign 
parentage will be in the majority. And it 
is a fact to be taken in this connection that 
a low standard of culture exists in many 
parts of the country, West and South, and, 
moreover, many causes exist to estrange, 
looseness of family ties and diverse in- 
terests. These speculations do not alarm 
us with an immediate danger, but they do 
call for immediate provision against evils 
great enough, if not provided against, to 
wreck the nation. The danger to civiliza- 
tion today is not from without, but from 
within. The heterogeneous masses must 
be made homogeneous. Those who inherit 
the traditions of other and hostile nations; 
those who are bred under diverse influences 
and hold foreign ideas; those who are sup- 
ported by national inspirations not Ameri- 
can must be inducted into the life and spirit 
of this New World and must be assimi- 
lated and Americanized. The chief agency 
to this end has been the public school and 
popular education. No better agency has 
ever been devised by man. Its usefulness 
hitherto has been immeasureable, but as 
administered it has not met the wants of the 
nation, and if administered in the future as 
in the past, must fall farther and farther 
short of meeting those wants. What, then, 



if there is any truth in the facts presented 
or force in the argument adduced, ought to 
be done? What, if the people cherish any 
real hope of an honorable destiny? What, 
by a people having a moral purpose worthy 
of their illustrious name? 

"Education should no longer be merely 
offered; it should be required, and if the 
patriotic citizens have the courage of their 
convictions and the good sense to be con- 
sistent, it will be required. It is not yet 
time, perhaps, to talk of inconsistency and 
cowardice, but that time rapidly approaches. 
The discussions of the General Assembly 
during the last few sessions have greatly 
forwarded the public sentiment which de- 
mands that our system of education be 
made more effective by the enactment of a 
comprehensive and unequivocal compulsory 
law. The truancy law enacted a little more 
than a year ago, though an encouraging 
advance, is not a right-out, square declara- 
tion by the state that ignorance shall be 
stamped out and every child God has made 
capable of intelligent citizenship shall be 
qualified as such. The law makes it possi- 
ble for localities — yes, for all the localities 
of the state — -to make that declaration, but 
it does not make it itself. Next time, it is 
hoped that, with more heart and strength- 
ened convictions, the Assembly will be able 
to take full responsibility and express in 
the statutes of the commonwealth what 
has been the intention of the people from 
the beginning — -the purpose to educate all. 
The law will not leave it optional with the 
city or municipality whether to ignore the 
action of the state or not. It will require 



PUBLIC SCHOOLS TO FREE SCHOOLS. 



205 



in 1879, 76.5 in 1880, 76 in 1881, 75.2 in 1882, 74.8 in 1883, 
78.1 in 1884, and 81.3 in 1885. Improvement in the thorough- 
ness of the school census may account in some part, however, 
for the loss in percentage of enrollment from 1879 to 1883. 
The gains in 1884 and 1885 were pronounced in spite of the fact 
that only 15 towns had complied fully with the law. For the 
same years the percentages of absenteeism reducing attendance 
among those enrolled to less than 12 weeks, were 5 in 1879, 
3.6 in 1880, 4.8 in 1881, 4.6 in 1882, 3.8 in 1883, 3.5 in 1884, 
3.9 in 1885. The gain in enrollment was not maintained, 
however; the percentage fell off from 81.3 in 1885 to 78.6 in 
1886. 



conformable action, and will provide pen- 
alties, and executive procedure for enforc- 
ing its requirements. Meanwhile the 
present law has a salutary effect. Its en- 
actment has very greatly increased the 
enrollment throughout the state. In 
municipalities where the councils have 
passed no ordinances, individual employers 
of children, under an awakened sentiment 
of patriotism, not to say true honor, have 
felt it a duty to refuse to employ youth of 
school age who have not received the edu- 
cation contemplated by law, and have not 
done so. Some towns having ordinances 
adopted in conformity with the intention of 
the statute expect to enroll in the schools, 
public or parochial, every child employed 
in their manufacturing establishments. This 
is an important advance. It shows a per- 
vasive public sentiment and enthusiasm 
that ought not to be allowed to subside, but 
should be improved by the enactment of still 
necessary laws. The public expect it — de- 
mand it. If the state means what it seems 
to say, let it say it so there can be no escape. 
If the statute remains as now, there is 
danger that the towns which have ordi- 
nances and are at the trouble of shifting 
help every term will weary of this annoy- 
ance. Why should they be at such pains, 
when others are doing nothing of the kind? 
Again, if the law remains as now, the towns 
which refuse to employ children who have 
not received the prescribed instruction will 
lose their help. It has been, in this short 
time, no uncommon thing for a family of 
five to leave town for another locality, 



simply because employment was refused a 
minor who ought to have been at school. 
When help is scarce, it is an aggravation to 
lose a whole family to another establishment 
just across the river, because no truant or 
absentee ordinances have been adopted. 
The town that does not execute the law is a 
provocation to the town that does, to repeal 
the law. So far it is only just to say, that 
employers of juvenile help have been ready 
to recognize their obligations. The objec- 
tions and difficulties are almost wholly with 
the parents, some of whom are poor, but 
many of whom are sordid. The cases of 
hardship, which have been anticipated, and 
which have hindered action so long, have 
been humanely dealt with through the 
half-missionary and half-educational offices 
of the school committee and their agent, 
the truant officer; and so far, it is not 
believed that a single case justifying the 
complaint of the poorest has occurred. 

"In some localities the lack of school 
accommodations is doubtless the reason no 
action has been taken under the law. While 
such a reason may be good for a short time, 
it cannot for such wealthy communities 
as Providence and Pawtucket be made to 
serve long as an apology for not doing 
what every patriotic and honorable senti- 
ment declares should be done at once. It is 
to be hoped that such communities will 
speedily awaken to recognize how prejudi- 
cial to the cause of education is their delay. 
Every day and every month of such neglect 
is a wrong to the youth and a danger to the 
state." 



206 



PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 



Indifference in Providence. — -The Board of Education com- 
plained of indifference in Providence. Proposed amendments 
to the law, which aimed to make it more effective, were delayed 
in the General Assembly. The Commissioner of Public Schools 
called attention to the failure to improve after the momentum 
of first enthusiasm had spent itself, and the weakness of the 
law was disclosed. The early gains were clearly due more to 
voluntary compliance with the spirit of the law, than to any 
attempt to enforce the letter of it. The Commissioner char- 
acterized inaction in Providence, which still ignored the law 
altogether, as shameful, besides lamenting the effect which the 
bad example of the city must have upon the rest of the state. 
The General Assembly, in 1887, provided a penalty for recal- 
citrant municipalities — forfeiture of 50 per cent, of their shares 
of the state school money. Enrollment improved thereafter, 
the figures for five years being: 



In public schools 

In parochial schools 

In select (private) schools 

Totals 



42,547 
7,223 
1,663 



51,433 



1889. 



43,098 
7,974 
1,777 



52.849 



1890. 



43,163 

8,275 
1,478 



52,916 



1891. 



44,090 
8,663 
1,440 



54,193 



1892. 



45,777 
9,280 
1,389 



56,446 



The gain in total enrollment was almost 10 per cent, in five 
years. Select schools had lost ground. The percentage of 
gain in enrollment at parochial schools was almost four times 
that in public schools, but in proportion of enrollment to total 
enrollment the two systems had made nearly equal gains. 
Commissioner Stockwell reported in 1892, that Rhode Island led 
all other northern states in improved public school enrollment. 

Advance Still Desired. — The Board of Education and the 
Commissioner of Public Schools were not yet satisfied with the 



PUBLIC SCHOOLS TO FREE SCHOOLS. 207 

law. Three significant changes were desired: (1) Extension 
of the period of required attendance from 12 weeks to 20 weeks^ 
(2) a transfer of the power to appoint and to control truant 
officers from town councils to school authorities, and (3) effec- 
tive supervision of parochial and private schools, particularly 
with reference to attendance. Both Board and Commissioner 
urged 20 weeks of required attendance in more than one annual 
report. In 1893 the General Assembly extended the require- 
ment to 16 weeks, or 80 full school days, and regular attendance 
at all school session unless the child was regularly employed at 
home or elsewhere. The Board of Education at first advocated 
the appointment of truant officers by the Board ; in 1890 the 
Commissioner of Public Schools recommended that school 
committees be given the power to appoint truant officers, but 
this reform was not accomplished until 1901. 

As previously noted, school committees lost the right to visit 
and inspect parochial schools with the abolition of tax exemp- 
tion, and partly regained it when the truancy law permitted 
"approval" of other than public schools. One-sixth of the 
school children in the state were enrolled in parochial schools in 
the period about 1890. The Board of Education recommended, 
in 1884, that private and parochial schools "should in some way 
and by some legislation be brought under a system of super- 
vision similar to that of the public schools. Such schools ought 
to be required to keep prescribed registers and make returns 
to the Board of Education as to the number of teachers, number 
and age of pupils, hours of instruction, courses of study and 
other means of doing the work of education." ' It is not be- 
lieved," the Board continued, "that any opposition need be 
met with in the enforcement of a law that will secure full and 
accurate statistics. Many parochial and private schools 
voluntarily keep registers similar to those prescribed for the 
public schools, and make returns to the school committees of 
their respective towns. Such a course of action is equally 



208 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

commendable and honorable." In 1889 the Commissioner of 
Public Schools advocated the supplying of school registers for 
private schools, and that reports be required. By law enacted 
in 1892, all private schools were required to register at the 
office of the Board of Education, "such registry showing loca- 
tion, name, officers and persons in charge, grade of instruction 
and common language used in teaching," and to report annually 
to the Board of Education, showing the number of different 
pupils enrolled, the average attendance, and the number of 
teachers employed. The Board of Education was ordered to 
furnish school registers and blanks for reports. The Board 
reported that 62 of 75 schools to which requests for information 
were sent had reported, but that 13 ignored the communications 
from the Board. In 1893 school committees were given per- 
mission to approve private schools "only when the teaching is 
in the English language, and when they are satisfied that such 
teaching is thorough and efficient, and when the persons in 
charge of said school shall keep the record of attendance of the 
pupils thereof upon the blanks provided by the state for such 
purposes, and shall render to the school committee of the town 
or city where said school is located a detailed report of the 
attendance of any pupil for any specified time, provided that 
the request for such report is made in writing and sets forth 
that such pupil is suspected of irregular attendance or truancy." 
Public school officers regained the right to visit and inspect 
private and parochial schools with the restoration of tax 
exemption. 

Towns failing to comply with the school census law forfeited 
state school money after 1886. The range of forbidden em- 
ployment was extended in 1893 to include manufacturing, 
mechanical and mercantile establishments, and telegraph and 
telephone companies, and the minimum employment age was 
raised to 12 years in 1894. 



PUBLIC SCHOOLS TO FREE SCHOOLS. 209 

The statutory provisions for compulsory school attendance 
in 1894 (1) required the taking of an annual school census, (2) 
required the keeping of attendance records and the making of 
reports by public and private schools, (3) required parents to 
send children 7 to 15 years of age to day school 80 full school 
days per year, or the full school teim when the children were 
not regularly employed, (4) made the child also responsible 
for attendance at school, (5) forbade the employment of (a) 
children under 12 years of age, (b) children between 12 and 15 
years of age without certificates of school attendance or of 
completion of the elementary school branches, in manufactur- 
ing, mechanical or mercantile establishments, and telegraph or 
telephone companies, (6) required (a) town councils to appoint 
truant officers and (b) the Governor to appoint factory in- 
spectors, and (7) provided penalties. The law was reasonably 
effective, though, of course, not perfect. The next important 
advance was made in 1902. 

OTHER ADVANCES. 

The District System. — Commissioner Stockwell was a persis- 
tent advocate of the abolition of school districts and centraliza- 
tion of school management in the hands of school committees. 
The district system never had been established in Providence, 
Newport, Bristol and Warren. Commissioner Bicknell, in 
1871, reported a list of nine towns in which school committees 
had substantial control, including the four mentioned, and 
Pawtucket, Woonsocket, East Providence, Barrington and 
North Providence, but the district system had not been abol- 
ished completely in all these towns. Commissioner Stockwell 
was the first Commissioner who realized and noted in his 
reports that towns were actually without power to abolish 
districts, once the district system was adopted. In 1875 he 
recommended that districts be abolished by state law, or that 
towns be given permission to abolish districts, and in almost 



210 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

every report thereafter he returned to this recommendation. 
The Board of Education was of the same faith. In 1878 the 
Commissioner pointed out the inadequacy of the law to compel 
districts to keep schools, and suggested that a penalty should 
be attached to failure to keep school. The districts were 
strongly entrenched, however. The first important break 
occurred in 1883, when Woonsocket applied to the General 
Assembly for legislation to enable it to abolish school districts 
and a special act was passed. Barrington followed Woonsocket, 
and Johnston was the third town in two years to present 
a request for an enabling act. In 1884 the General Assembly 
enacted a general law, which permitted towns to abolish dis- 
tricts and provided for an adjustment of school property 
interests. The act of 1884 increasing the state school appro- 
priation to $120,000 made the school, instead of the school 
district, the basis of apportionment, thus removing one incen- 
tive for increasing the number of school districts. An im- 
portant advance had been made, but the victory was incomplete. 
The Board of Education, in 1886, recommended the abolition 
of all school districts, and the establishment of a system of state 
supervision, making the Board of Education a superior school 
committee, and the Commissioner of Public Schools a chief 
state superintendent in fact, as well as in name. The Supreme 
Court having decided in 1891 (Comstock vs. School Com- 
mittee, 17 R. I. 827), that the vote to abolish districts under the 
act of 1884 could be taken only in town meeting, the General 
Assembly in 1894 by statute permitted the vote to be taken in 
district meetings. Final abolition occurred in 1904. 

Efficient Supervision. — The need of efficient supervision of 
schools appealed to Commissioner Stockwell. The law of 1871 
requiring school committees to appoint where towns failed to 
elect superintendents was mandatory in form, but Mr. Stockwell 
found the mandatory law not fully effective without a provision 



PUBLIC SCHOOLS TO FREE SCHOOLS. 211 

for the payment of adequate salaries. Unless a reasonable 
standard salary or a minimum salary were established, and 
while towns might designate merely a nominal compensation 
for the superintendent, it was unlikely that the supervision 
would be expert or fairly competent, or superior in value to 
the price paid for it. In 1878 the Commissioner reported a 
deplorable tendency among the towns to cut down the salaries 
of superintendents, under the pretence of economy. He advo- 
cated at various times (1) permissive unions of small towns and 
the establishment of joint superin tendencies, (2) a standard 
salary law with state asumption of one-half the cost of super- 
vision. Both these recommendations were renewed and 
adopted years after their first suggestion. The Board of 
Education was equally insistent upon the need of competent 
supervision. In 1881 it recommended an annual appropria- 
tion of $10,000, to be apportioned to aid towns in paying ade- 
quate salaries and securing better supervision; and in 1884, 
with the proposed increase of the general state appropriation 
to $120,000, that "the payment year by year to any town of its 
share of the additional appropriation be made conditional upon 
the town's adopting an efficient system of paid supervision." 
In 1886 supervision by district superintendents paid by the 
state was recommended. None of these recommendations was 
adopted. In 1884 school committees were given exclusive 
power to appoint superintendents, the town right to elect being 
taken away, but the town retained control of the situation 
through its power to determine the superintendent's salary. 
In 1902 the school committee was given power to fix the salary; 
in 1903 joint superintendencies were permitted, the state paying 
half the joint salary up to $1500, and in 1904 the state assumed 
the payment of $750 toward the salary of any superintendent 
receiving not less than $1500 annually. In 1908 superin- 
tendents were required to hold certificates of qualification 
issued by the Board of Education. 



212 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

School Apparatus. — Henry Barnard had reported a want of 
maps, charts, blackboards and other apparatus in schools. 
Commissioner Allyn had recommended that the state under- 
take some part of the cost of supplying dictionaries, books of 
reference, maps and charts for schools. Commissioner Stock- 
well and the Board of Education in 1879 renewed this recom- 
mendation, and the General Assembly in 1880 provided an 
annual appropriation, to be distributed to towns equipping 
schools with dictionaries, encyclopaedias and other works of 
reference, maps, globes and other apparatus. Under the law 
the state reimburses the town for half its expenditure for the 
purpose annually, up to $10 per school and $200 per town. 
To give the law its best and most complete effect the Com- 
missioner made arrangements with jobbers to supply books 
and apparatus of the kind intended at prices based on large 
sales. Reviewing the operation of the law in 1884, the Com- 
missioner said: "All but two towns have availed themselves 
of its provisions more or less fully. In most of the towns, 
either all, or nearly all, of the schools have been supplied with 
utensils for teaching. . . . The universal testimony of 
teachers and pupils is to the incalculable aid afforded by these 
helps, and there is no question as to the value of the enactment. 
The simple fact that 250 quarto dictionaries have been placed 
in the schools of the state during these four years is suggestive 
of a wonderful quickening of mental activity, of a wide diffusion 
of knowledge. When to these are added all of the books of 
reference and general literature, all of the globes, maps and the 
countless other forms of illustrative material, it is almost im- 
possible to conceive of the stimulus imparted to the schools." 
The law of 1880 is significant beyond its purpose of providing 
important accessories to effective instruction. The law of 1839 
limiting the use of state school money to payment for instruc- 
tion, and the law of 1845 designating the state school money as 
teachers' money, perhaps established the principle of state aid 



PUBLIC SCHOOLS TO FREE SCHOOLS. 213 

for specific school purposes; but it is more certain that both 
these acts aimed at a distribution of the burden of school 
support by a tripartite division of responsibility. This was 
made clear in Henry Barnard's explanation that the town or 
district should furnish the schoolhouse, the state should pay 
part of the cost of instruction, and the parent, by rate bill, 
might pay the balance. That was the system he found in 
Rhode Island. Tripartite responsibility was terminated by 
the abolition of rate bills, though the state still designated its 
appropriation as teachers' money. The law of 1880 singled 
out a very specific way of improving schools. With the excep- 
tion of the law of 1884 increasing the annual appropriation of 
teachers' money, every fresh provision for state support since 
1880 has been directed in similar fashion to a specific purpose. 
The act of 1880 marked the beginning of a change in the state's 
school financial policy from general aid to aid for specific pur- 
poses and in particular instances. 

Miscellaneous Advances. — The General Assembly, upon the 
recommendation of the Board of Education and the Governor, 
increased the annual school appropriation to $120,000 in 
1884-5, and provided for its apportionment partly by schools 
and partly in proportion to the number of children from 5 to 15 
years of age. By act of 1888 school committees were required 
to divide state school money and one-quarter of the town's 
school appropriation equally among school districts, and the 
balance of the town appropriation, and poll and dog taxes, 
one-half on the basis of average daily attendance and one-half 
at discretion, provided that no district received less than $180. 
The provision for distribution within the towns disappeared 
with the abolition of districts. The general appropriation 
remains unchanged from 1884-5. 

The procedure for condemnation of property for school 
purposes was amended in 1887. 



214 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

The state made its first appropriation for the special education 
of the deaf, dumb and blind in 1845, and six years later extended 
the work to include idiots and imbeciles. A day school for the 
deaf was opened in Providence in 1877 for instruction by the 
modern or lip-reading method. The city of Providence fur- 
nished a schoolroom, and the state paid tuition for its bene- 
ficiaries. In 1882 the school was reorganized as a state insti- 
tution, and in 1892 it became a boarding as well as a day school. 
The Rhode Island School of Design, incorporated in 1877, 
became a state beneficiary in 1882; in 1883 the state made pro- 
vision for free scholarships at the School of Design. The 
State Home and School for indigent children was opened in 
1885. The money that Rhode Island received from the 
United States under the Hatch bill, for an agricultural experi- 
ment station, was used as a beginning for a school of agriculture 
at Kingston in 1888; in 1892 the school was reorganized as the 
Rhode Island College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts. The 
trustees of all schools and educational institutions supported 
wholly or in part by the state, whether entirely devoted to 
education or only partly so, were required in 1892 to report 
annually to the State Board of Education, the number of pupils 
and instructors, courses of study, cost of maintenance and 
general needs of the school or institution. The board thus be- 
came the central organization for all public school activity 
in Rhode Island. The story of the development of the institu- 
tions named and the Normal School is reserved for the following 
chapter. 

Rhode Island delegates to school committees the right and 
duty to prescribe courses of study, under the direction of the 
Commissioner of Public Schools. Commissioner Stockwell pre- 
pared a graded course of study in 1878 as a model. It was for 
nine grades, a course since then generally abandoned for eight 
grades. School committees were required in 1884 to "make 
provision for the instruction of the pupils in all schools sup- 



PUBLIC SCHOOLS TO FREE SCHOOLS. 215 

ported wholly or in part by public money, in physiology and 
hygiene, with special reference to the effect of alcoholic liquors, 
stimulants and narcotics upon the human system." This was 
then and was until the physical education law of 1917 the only 
instance in which the law prescribed specific subjects as part 
of the course of study. 

The Commissioner of Public Schools was authorized, in 1891, 
to prepare an annual programme for Arbor Day, which had 
become a school holiday generally observed throughout the 
state. In 1892 Columbus Day was observed as a school 
holiday, commemorating the 400th anniversary of the discovery 
of America. 

In connection with the Rhode Island school exhibit at the 
Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia in 1876, a "History of 
Public Education in Rhode Island" was published under the 
direction of Commissioner Stockwell. In 1893 an exhibit was 
prepared for the World's Columbian Exposition. 

Commissioner Stockwell was active in attempting to secure 
uniformity of textbooks throughout the state, and attained 
some success in this endeavor. He advised teachers against a 
tendency to devote school hours to hearing recitations, instead 
of instructing their classes. He advocated better wages for 
teachers. He was a keen student of school law and its effect, 
and conscientious in his endeavor to enforce and secure enforce- 
ment of law. 

FREE TEXTBOOKS— FREE SCHOOLS. 

The General Assembly made the public schools of the state 
absolutely free schools in 1893 by requiring school committees 
to furnish free textbooks and supplies for all pupils at the 
expense of the towns. This reform, first suggested by Com- 
missioner Allyn as a way of removing one obstacle to more 
general school attendance, was acomplished in the year that 



216 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN EHODE ISLAND. 

he died. Free textbooks were recommended by Commissioner 
Stockwell in 1892. 

The movement from public schools to free schools had 
covered half a century, for the year 1894 was the 50th since 
the reorganization of the Rhode Island school system under 
Henry Barnard. It was also the 25th year of the State Board 
of Education. In 1894 there were 505 public school buildings 
in the state, the estimated value of property held for public school 
purposes being $3,865,000. The number of school buildings 
had been 312 in 1844, 316 in 1849, 378 in 1854, 446 in 1879, 453 
in 1884, 474 in 1889. State appropriations for public school 
support had increased from $25,000 in 1844 to $126,747 in 1894; 
town appropriations from $25,500 in 1844 to $966,594 in 1894. 
With poll taxes, dog taxes and district taxes, the total amount 
available for school support in 1894 was $1,670,010. The ex- 
penditures for public schools in 1894 amounted to $1,478,840, 
of which $420,706 was for schoolhouses. 

BRIEF SUMMARY 

In this chapter and the preceding chapter the progress of 
school improvement for half a centuiy has been presented, 
first, in relation to the solution of six major problems developed 
by the Barnard school law, and, secondly, in a narrative, partly 
chronological and partly topical. Perhaps the best review and 
summary of the entire movement is afforded by an outline of 
the school organization as of 1894, with indications of changes 
and of innovations introduced after 1845. 

I. Administration. 

1. The General Assembly, a state school committee. 

2. The Board of Education created in 1870, the Governor 

and Lieutenant Governor representing the execu- 
tive and six elective members the legislative depart- 
ment. The board elected the Commissioner of 
Public Schools, apportioned aid to and made rules 



PUBLIC SCHOOLS TO FREE SCHOOLS 217 

and regulations for public libraries (1875), and 
apportioned aid to evening schools (1873). All 
educational institutions receiving state aid and all 
private schools reported to the Board (1892), as 
did the Commissioner. The Board of Education 
reported to the General Assembly. 

3. The Commissioner of Public Schools, elected (after 
1871) by the Board of Education. He was sec- 
retary of the board, dispenser of the state's appro- 
priations for teachers' money and school apparatus 
(1880). His relations to the public schools were 
advisory and supervisory. He heard and decided 
appeals under the school law (jurisdiction con- 
firmed 1873). He had charge of teachers' in- 
stitutes 

4 School committees, in charge of town systems, but 
dividing authority under district organization with 
district trustees. Town or district system was 
optional with the town (1884). 

5. School superintendents (compulsory 1871), elected by 

school committees (1884) ; compensation fixed by 
towns. 

6. Truant officers, appointed by 'town councils (1883), 

and factory inspectors, appointed by Governor 
(1894). 

II. Support of Schools. i 

1. Mandatory support by towns (1882); taxation must 

equal st&ie school money (1871). 

2. State support, by general appropriation for teachers' 

salaries, 1120,000 (act of 1884); by annual appro- 
priations for evening schools (1873) and school 
apparatus (1880). 

3. Poll taxes replaced registry taxes in 1888. Dog taxes 

(1869). 

4. Tuition forbidden (1868); free textbooks (1893). 

III . School Property. 

1. Land and buildings, provided by towns and districts, 
located by school committee, with power to con- 
demn sites (1859, 1887). 

2 Apparatus and reference books, supplied by town, 
with state aid (1880) 

3. Textbooks and supplies, free, furnished by towns (1893) . 



218 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

IV. School Teachers. 

1 Provision for education at state expense at Normal 

School (1871). Teachers' institutes, state sup- 
ported. 

2. Examined and certificated by Board of Trustees of 

Normal School (1871) or school committee. 

3. Hired by trustees under district system, by school 

committee under town system. 

V. School Pupils. 

1. Exclusion only by general rule ; no color discrimination 
(1866). 

2 Compulsory attendance (1883-1894). 

a. Children 7 to 15 must attend 80 full school days, 
or the full school term when not regularly employed. 

b. Children under 12, or under 15 if unable to write, 
or under 15 without certificate of schooling, for- 
bidden employment. 

c. Enforcement by truant officers and factory in- 

spectors. 

VI. Educational Institutions Other Than Public Schools. 

1. Rhode Island College of Agriculture and Mechanic 

Arts (1892). 

2 . Rhode Island Normal School (1871). 

3. Rhode Island School of Design (1877, 1882). 

4. Rhode Island Institute for the Deaf (1877, 1882, 1892). 

5. State Home and School (1885). 

6. The Sockanosset and Oaklawn Schools (reformatory). 

7. Free public libraries, receiving state aid (1875). 



CHAPTER VI. 



EXTENSION AND IMPROVEMENT. 



In previous chapters the history of the public elementary 
school system has been traced to its perfection as a universal 
free public school system through mandatory provisions for its 
support, through the abolition of all charges or taxes upon 
pupils and their parents, through compulsory attendance laws, 
and through the introduction of free textbooks This chapter 
ventures backward somewhat into the period already covered 
by the chronology of previous chapters, and then carries for- 
ward the history to 1918. It deals with three phases of Exten- 
sion and Improvement, both before and after 1893: 

I. Extension of the school system by provision of educa- 
tional opportunities for defective classes, 

II. Extension of the school system by provision of opportu- 
nities for public education beyond the elenientary grades, 

III. Improvement of the entire public school system after 
1893. 

I. EDUCATION FOR DEFECTIVE CLASSES. 

Rhode Island provides maintenance and care for blind 
children, institutional instruction for blind, deaf, dumb, indigent 
and imbecile children, and instruction for the adult blind in 
their homes. 

The General Assembly, in 1836, directed town clerks to report 
the number, age, sex and pecuniary condition of deaf and dumb 
persons, and the extent of their education. At the January 



220 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

session in 1845 an annual appropriation of $1500 was provided 
"for the education at the American Asylum at Hartford for the 
instruction of the deaf and dumb, of the indigent deaf-mutes 
of the state, and for the education of the indigent blind of this 
state at the institution for the education of the blind located at 
South Boston." Byron Diman was appointed a commissioner 
for the distribution of the appropriation, the expenditure of 
which was limited to $100 a year and to five years for each bene- 
ficiary. In 1851 the appropriation was made $2500, and its 
distribution was entrusted to the Commissioner of Public 
Schools, while $15C0 was appropriated to be distributed by the 
Governor for the education of imbeciles and idiots. The power 
of naming beneficiaries passed ultimately to the Governor, 
and in 1893 "the duty and responsibility of supervising the 
education of all such beneficiaries" were vested in the Board of 
Education. 

Rhode Island Institute for the Deaf. — In 1877 a day school for 
the instruction of deaf-mutes by the modern lip-reading method 
was opened in Providence. The city furnished a schoolroom, 
and the Governor appointed five beneficiaries of the state 
appropriation for the education of the deaf as state scholars. 
The number of pupils grew gradually. In 1882 the school was 
reorganized as a state institution. Ten years later a perma- 
nent home for the school was built on Hope street in Providence, 
and it was reorganized as the Rhode Island Institute for the 
Deaf, and placed under control of a board of trustees. In 1896 
attendance was made compulsory for children between the ages 
of 7 and 18 years whose "hearing or speech, or both, are so 
defective as to make it inexpedient or impracticable to attend 
the public schools to advantage, not being mentally or other- 
wise incapable." Children 3 to 20 years of age are received 
at the school, the primary object of which is "to furnish to the 
deaf children of the state oral instruction and the best known 
facilities for the enjoyment of such a share of the benefits of the 



EXTENSION AND IMPROVEMENT. 221 

system of free public education as their afflicted condition will 
admit of." The school is free for legal residents of the state. 

Exeter School.-The General Assembly, in 1907, made pro- 
vision for the establishment of a home and school for the feeble- 
minded, under the management and control of the State Board 
of Education. The institution is located at Exeter. It pro- 
vides instruction and education for feeble-minded persons who 
are within school age or who are capable of being benefited by 
school instruction, and custodial care for feeble-minded persons 
beyond school age or who are not capable of being benefited by 
school instruction. The school is for idiots and imbeciles; its 
work should not be confused with that done for backward 
children in public elementary schools. In 1916 the name of 
the institution was changed from Rhode Island School for the 
Feeble-Minded to Exeter School. In 1917 the State Board 
of Education, on its own suggestion, was relieved of respon- 
sibility for the further care and management of the Exeter 
School, and the institution was entrusted to the newlv created 
Penal and Charitable Commission. 

Education for the Blind.-The Governor, on recommendation 
by the Board of Education, may appoint deaf, imbecile or 
blind children as state beneficiaries at any suitable institution 
within or without the state. The Board of Education super- 
vises the education of such appointees, and may spend m the 
purchase of clothing "a sum not exceeding $20 in any calendar 
year for a single child." Since 1908 the Board of Education has 
been empowered to provide for the education of adult blind 
residents of the state at their homes, employing two visiting 
teachers. The Board may also provide for the care and main- 
tenance of children born blind or becoming blind. 

State Home and School for Children.-Mtev repeated recom- 
mendations by the Commissioner of Public Schools and the 
Board of Education, that the state should provide an industrial 



222 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

school, the State Home and School for indigent children was 
authorized in 1883, and opened on Smith street in Providence, 
in 1885. The institution was managed by a board of control 
until 1917, when its care and management were entrusted to 
the Penal and Charitable Commission. The school receives 
such children as are declared vagrant, neglected and dependent 
on the public for support, over 4 and under 14 years of age, 
who are in suitable condition of mind and body to be instructed. 
Children under 4 may be admitted for exceptional reasons, and 
children once admitted may remain in the institution until they 
are 18 years old, unless otherwise ordered by the board. Chil- 
dren of unsound mind are excluded. The object of the school 
is to "provide for neglected and dependent children, not rec- 
ognized as vicious or criminal, such influences as will lead 
toward an honest, intelligent and self-supporting manhood and 
womanhood, the state so far as possible holding to them the 
parental relation." The board has power to place the children 
in good families, which undertake to care for them and to 
provide for their education in public schools. 

Sockanosset School for Boys is an institution for the confine- 
ment, instruction and reformation of juvenile offenders and of 
young persons of idle, vicious or vagrant habits," as described 
by the statutes, but the late superintendent declared that it 
"is an institution for the moral uplift of the unfortunate boy 
who has been brought here through conditions for which he is 
not always responsible. Prominent among these might be 
neglect of proper guidance by those who should have been 
responsible for his upbringing, by virtue of which the lad is the 
real sufferer, and these conditions should be considered by 
those' who have him in charge. The real object of this insti- 
tution, therefore, is to reclaim these lads and endeavor to make 
of them law-abiding and useful citizens by educating them 
along lines that would lead them into useful pursuits, and de- 
veloping those talents which it may be found they possess." 



EXTENSION AND IMPROVEMENT. 223 

The Sockanosset School was opened in 1850 in connection with 
the Providence Reform School; it was removed to Howard in 
1882. Previouslv under control of the State Board of Charities 
and Corrections, the institution in 1917 was committed to the 
care of the Penal and Charitable Commission. Under Super- 
intendent Gardner* marked attention has been given to the 
improvement of school education and the teaching of skilled 
trades. A building formerly used as a dormitory has been 
remodelled as a school building. The boys are organized in 
graded classes, but special attention is given to boys needing 
individual instruction. The boys have constructed a vocational 
trade building of reinforced concrete, which houses eight shops, 
in which the boys are taught as many trades while producing 
articles used at the school and in other state institutions. The 
estimated value of the building is $46,000; the boy labor em- 
ployed saved the state half that amount. The building is an 
enduring monument to boy labor well employed. 

Oaklawn School for Girls was established in 1850 in connection 
with the Providence Reform School. It was removed to 
Howard in 1882. Its purpose is corrective. It provides care 
and education for female juvenile offenders. A cottage plan 
is in operation for the segregation of girls into classes according 
to the nature of their offences. The small number of girls com- 
mitted to the Oaklawn School, the comparatively short periods 
of sentences, and the necessity of separating girls in cottages, 
prohibit the organization of graded classes, although schools 
are conducted, and an earnest effort is made to promote educa- 
tion. Much the same reasons have almost inhibited the 
organization of vocational classes, but all girls are given careful 
training in various departments of domestic service. The 
institution passed in 1917 from control of the State Board of 
Charities and Corrections to the care and management of the 
Penal and Charitable Commission. 



♦Retired, 1917. 



224 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

All institutions under the care, control and management of 
the Penal and Charitable Commission which provide school 
education for children are required to make annual reports to 
the State Board of Education, and may employ as teachers 
only those who hold certificates of qualification issued by the 
State Board of Education. It is the right and duty of the 
Commissioner of Public Schools to visit and inspect these 
schools at any time, and to make suggestions for improvement. 

II. HIGHER EDUCATION. 

Beyond the public elementary schools, attendance at which 
is compulsory, Rhode Island provides opportunities for sec- 
ondary education in public high schools, which are aided by 
an annual appropriation and which towns are required to main- 
tain by a mandatory statute. Higher education is provided 
free for residents of the state at Rhode Island State College. 
Vocational education is free for residents of Rhode Island at 
Rhode Island Normal School and in the graduate department 
of education at Brown University, for teachers; at the Rhode 
Island School of Design, which maintains eight departments of 
instruction in trades and industries; and at the Rhode Island 
College of Pharmacy and Allied Sciences, for pharmacists. 
The state system of free public schools thus extends from 
kindergarten through college. At other institutions than those 
maintained by public agencies opportunities for free education 
are provided through free state scholarships. 

Rhode Island State College. — The appointment of beneficiaries 
to free scholarships at Brown University ceased in 1892, when 
the university surrendered to the state the proceeds of the sale 
of land granted under the Morrill Act of 1862, amounting to 
$50,000. Rhode Island, in 1888, established an experiment 
station and school of agriculture at Kingston, the former to 
receive the $15,000 annually appropriated by the Hatch Act of 
1887. The school of agriculture was reorganized as the Rhode 



EXTENSION AND IMPROVEMENT. 225 

Island College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts in 1892, and 
in 1909 the name of the institution was changed to Rhode 
Island State College. The college is supported, partly by the 
United States Government and partly by the State of Rhode 
Island, receiving annually: The income of the land grant 
fund under the Morrill Act of 1862, $2,500; for experimental 
purposes, $15,000 under the Hatch Act of 1887, and $15,000 
under the Adams Act of 1906; for "instruction in agriculture, 
the mechanic arts, the English language, and the various 
branches of mathematical, physical, natural and economic 
sciences, with special reference to their application in the 
industries of life, and to the facilities for such instruction," 
$25,000 under the Morrill Act of 1890, and $25,000 under the 
Nelson amendment of 1907; $10,000 for college extension in 
co-operation with the Department of Agriculture under the 
Smith-Lever bill, a total of $92,500 annually, directly or as the 
income of funds provided by Congress; and $40,000 for sup- 
port and maintenance from the state treasury. The college 
buildings and equipment have been provided by the state, 
representing an investment exceeding $450,000. 

The growth of the college was not rapid in its earlier years; 
its functions were not clearly understood by the people gen- 
erally, and it was not distinctly a popular institution. The 
enthusiasm of leaders in the movement for extension of the col- 
lege was offset and counteracted somewhat by distrust, dissatis- 
faction with the cost of maintenance and improvement without 
realization of the ideal developing, and almost irreconcilable op- 
position by alumni and friends of Brown University, who feared 
the growth of a rival institution of collegiate rank within the 
borders of the state. Most of the reaction has spent itself; 
coldness and apathy are giving way to pride in the achieve- 
ments of the college, and appreciation of the fundamental ideal 
propounded by Senator Morrill: "To offer an opportunity in 
every state for a liberal and larger education to large numbers, 



226 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

not merely those destined to sedentary professions, but to those 
much needing higher instruction for the world's business, for 
industrial pursuits and professions of life ... to give a 
chance to the industrial classes of the country to obtain a liberal 
education." 

The General Assembly in 1908 appointed a commission of 
inquiry for special examination of the college, with instructions 
" to visit the Rhode Island College of Agriculture and Mechanic 
Arts, make a study of its aims, plans and work, determine its 
educational value to the state, consider ways and means by 
which its service to the state may be enhanced, and report 
thereon, with such other suggestions as they may deem proper." 
The commissioners' report, presented to the General Assembly 
in 1909, reviewed the legislation of Congress under which the 
land-grant colleges were established and fostered, the history 
of land-grant colleges generally, and of the Rhode Island college 
in particular. While emphasizing the state's "solemn compact 
with the United States Government" to maintain a college, 
set forth in the General Assembly's resolution in 1863, accepting 
the Morrill grant, "that the faith of the state be and hereby is 
pledged to the United States that, upon receipt of the scrip pro- 
vided to be issued under the said act of Congress, it will apply 
the proceeds thereof to the objects and in the manner prescribed 
by this act," the commission replied with facts to criticisms of 
the college which had occasioned the inquiry. The commission 
unanimously advocated the continuance of the college and its 
extension on the lines already laid down. 

The college offers four-year courses in agriculture, mechanical, 
electrical, chemical, and civil engineering, a teachers' four- 
year course in applied science, and a four-year course in home 
economics; and two-year courses in agriculture and domestic 
science. Extension courses in agriculture and engineering are 
provided, and the work by the experiment station is closely 
correlated with the agricultural interests of the state. The 



EXTENSION AND IMPROVEMENT. 227 

total enrollment of students at the college exceeds 250, of whom 
225 are taking four-year courses leading to collegiate degrees. 
The college is governed by a board of seven members, consisting 
of the Commissioner of Public Schools, one member appointed 
by the State Board of Agriculture and five appointed by the 
Governor. 

" Our state system of public education is no longer a system 
of schools alone, but one of school and college," says Commis- 
sioner Ranger. "We need to remember that this institution 
(the college) is a vital factor of the state government in its 
entire educational enterprise; that it is the public's college and 
that it serves the public's youth, as the elementary school cares 
for the public's children. . . . The Rhode Island State 
College clearly exemplifies free public education administered 
by the state government. ... As the opportunities of 
high school education, following free elementary school instruc- 
tion, were made free by the state government to every boy and 
girl, so in the founding of the Rhode Island State College free 
collegiate education was offered to every youth, making another 
advance in free public education. With all its strength and 
power of the past, the college has hardly passed its formative 
period; and it yet awaits a higher recognition of its worth, a 
truer appreciation of its aims and service, a deeper sense of 
public responsibility for its needs, and that generous support 
of the people which in good time will enhance its value fourfold 
to the state and make it a fitting consummation of the system 
of free public education."* 

When war was declared against Germany in April, 1917, the 
Rhode Island State College Cadet Battalion was the only com- 
pletely trained and equipped body of troops on which the 
Governor could call for immediate service. The alumni of the 
college, and the students in upper classes, enlisted in large 
numbers in various governmental services. The alumni of 

♦Address at R. I. College, Oct. 26, 1912. 



228 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

Rhode Island State College have made an enviable reputation 
for the college in various walks of life, amply justifying the 
great faith that Senator Morrill voiced in advocating federal 
aid for education of collegiate grade for the people of all classes. 

Rhode Island Normal School. — As a necessary adjunct thereof, 
the Normal School might be considered part of the elementary 
public school system. The Rhode Island Normal School, how- 
ever, is a splendidly efficient institution, needing only slight 
modification and extension of the courses to four years to make 
it a normal college. It is a distinctly high-grade professional 
school, with strict, selective entrance requirements and well- 
maintained standards. The present Normal School was es- 
tablished in 1871, with the Board of Education and the Com- 
missioner of Public Schools as a board of trustees in charge. 
Ample provision for its maintenance was made by the General 
Assembly, and it was successful from the beginning. Although 
there was no rapid increase in the number of students in the 
first 20 years, there was a substantial, steady increase. The 
average enrollment was 148 in the first five years, 152 in the 
second five, and 155 in the third five years of the school's 
existence. The enrollment reached 200 in 1890, and was 218 
when the present building was occupied in 1898. The enroll- 
ment exceeded 400 in 1917. 

The Normal School was opened in temporary quarters in 
Normal Hall, on High street, Providence, and removed sub- 
sequently to the building on Benefit street which had been the 
Providence high school and is now the home of the Supreme 
Court of Rhode Island. Model and training schools in connnec- 
tion with the Normal School were opened in the schoolhouse at 
Benefit and Halsey streets in Providence, in 1894. Four years 
later the Normal School removed to its present building, which 
was authorized by the General Assembly in 1893. The lower 
floor houses a model and training school of nine rooms, from 



EXTENSION AND IMPROVEMENT. 229 

kindergarten through the recognized eight elementary grades, 
besides a model Montessori school. 

Under J. C. Greenough, the first Normal School principal, 
a two-year course was established, with special provision for 
advanced standing and completion of the work in one year by 
well-prepared students. No little difficulty was experienced in 
overcoming inequalities of preparation. Commissioner Stock- 
well, who served as acting principal after the resignation of Mr. 
Greenough until the appointment of Dr. Morgan, analyzed the 
problem and suggested a solution. He said : 

"The entire lack of academic preparation which marks so 
many of the pupils who have never enjoyed better advantages 
than the district school or the village grammar school has 
rendered necessary the most strenuous efforts to equip them 
with the requisite knowledge. But it has been found that the 
time allotted to the work is altogether too limited; and the 
practical experience of the past few years has been that for 
such pupils at least three years are necessary for the proper 
completion of the course. 

"On the other hand, we are constantly receiving from the 
best high schools of the state pupils who have been well taught 
and trained, whose knowledge of the various studies laid down 
in the course is as a rule excellent, and who are scholarly in 
their tastes and habits. Now it is manifestly neither just nor 
wise to put such pupils into the same class of work to which 
you would assign one to whom the whole subject matter was 
entirely new. The two elements are not calculated to assimi- 
late, nor can the two derive equal benefit from the work done. 
It will be too simple for the one or too difficult for the other. 
It would seem as though a double scheme should be prepared, 
which shall provide, on the one hand, for the giving of the 
requisite instruction in the various branches of learning to 
those who are destitute of this knowledge, and then to also 
secure a year of specific training in the science and art of teach- 
ing for those who come well equipped with the requisite knowl- 
edge, but without any idea of what to do with it. Such an 
adjustment will, I think, tend to commend the school more 
fully to all, and lead many to attend who otherwise would have 
never thought it necessary or even desirable." 

The organization of two courses, a distinctly professional 
course and a preparatory course, as suggested, was undertaken 
by Dr. Morgan. In 1891 the longer course was extended to 



230 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

three and a half years, and in 1894 required observation in the 
model schools and practice in the training schools extended the 
course to four years. The building provided for a model and 
training school housed three model schools and five training 
schools. The latter were taught by Normal School pupils under 
the supervision of experienced critic teachers. High school 
graduates were permitted to complete the professional work in 
two years, and a special one-term course was provided for 
appointees to teaching positions in the schools of Providence, 
who completed preparation for teaching in city training schools. 

The growth of the Normal School has been rapid since 1898. 
More stringent entrance requirements and stronger courses 
have been adopted, the preparatory course has been aban- 
doned as no longer necessary, residents of other states have 
practically been excluded, but still the number of students tends 
to increase. The course now covers two and a half years of 
strictly professional training beyond the four years of high 
school training required of all candidates for admission. The 
work includes six months of practical training in a public school- 
room under the supervision of an experienced critic teacher, 
each of whom trains two students. For critic teachers the state 
pays up to $400 in addition to the salary paid by the town or 
city in which the training school is located. Training schools 
are scattered over the state. Several towns require candidates 
for teaching positions to undergo a further period of practice 
teaching. For classes graduating in 1920 and thereafter the 
course is three years, including two years of work in the Normal 
School, one-half a school year in training, and one-half a school 
year of successful experience in a public school. 

The Normal School, therefore, comprises a professional school 
for teachers, a model and observation and training schools 
housed in the same building, and a series of 63 training schools. 
It also offers extension courses for teachers, aiming to improve 
professional standards and to keep teachers in service close up 



EXTENSION AND IMPROVEMENT. 231 

with the progress of educational science. In the summer of 
1917 a summer school for teachers and an institute for library- 
workers was conducted at Rhode Island Normal School. The 
enrollment of teachers for professional courses was 185. 
Through the co-operation of Rhode Island State College a series 
of lectures and demonstrations in home economics was presented. 
These extracts from a recent report of the Board of Trustees 
present a marked contrast to the extract from Commissioner 
Stockwell's report printed above, and indicate the present-day 
standards and aims of the Rhode Island Normal School : 

"Though generally recognized as one of the most successful 
normal schools in America, it has by no means reached the 
limits of its development or realized completely the purposes of 
its existence. . . . The fact that its scholastic requirements 
for admission of students are of the same grade as college en- 
trance requirements and that the work of its students is 
accredited by colleges establishes its academic standing as of 
collegiate rank among educational institutions. . . . How- 
ever gratifying may be the high academic rank and educa- 
tional position of the Normal School, the best measure of its 
usefulness is the recent gain in the relative number of teachers 
of professional training in our elementary public schools. . . . 
Steadily, year by year, the relative number of public school 
teachers of normal or professional training has increased until it 
is more than two-thirds of the total number of teachers in 
elementary or common schools. . . . No state has so 
large a per cent, of public school teachers who have had pro- 
fessional training for their work as Rhode Island, and we are 
rapidly approaching a time when a teacher of professional rank 
will be available for every school in the state. . . . The 
chief duty of the school is to complete the task it set out to do, 
to make available for every elementary school in the state a 
professionally trained teacher. When this is done, or as soon 
as a sufficient number of students are willing to extend their 
term of professional preparation to four years, the very ad- 
vantage to be gained by public schools through a better prepara- 
tion of teachers will justify the proposed advance. To employ 
generally in the elementary schools of Rhode Island teachers 
of professional training and collegiate culture is not only de- 
sirable but possible is the not distant future." 

The excellence of the Rhode Island Normal School has won 
it recognition within the state and reputation beyond the 



232 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN EHODE ISLAND. 

borders of the state. " No state except Rhode Island," said the 
Commissioner of Education of Massachusetts recently, "sur- 
passes Massachusetts in facilities for the training of elementary 
school teachers." This tribute belongs almost exclusively to 
Rhode Island Normal School. In a bulletin* of the National 
Bureau of Education, printed in 1916, reporting a special study 
of state normal schools, Rhode Island Normal School was 
selected for special distinction and praise. In particular the 
system of training schools was described as providing facilities 
for preparing teachers for service unsurpassed and unequalled 
elsewhere. Such unusual tribute to its general excellence is well 
deserved by this splendid institution. 

Rhode Island School of Design. — The School of Design was 
chartered in 1877 as a private institution "to furnish such in- 
struction in freehand and mechanical drawing, painting, model- 
ling and designing as is required by artisans generally, that they 
may more successfully apply the principles thereof to the 
mechanic arts and industries, and to give such systematic 
training to students as shall enable them to become successful 
art teachers, and to promote the general advancement of art 
and culture." In 1882 the school was made the beneficiary 
of an annual appropriation, under an agreement by which the 
Commissioner of Public Schools and two members of the Board 
of Education became trustees of the school, and the school 
reported annually to the Board. Commenting upon this agree- 
ment in 1883, the board of management said: "The State of 
Rhode Island is dependent in an unusual degree upon its manu- 
facturing industries. The most successful manufacturers "are 
those who keep abreast of the times. The most skilled work- 
men still come to us from abroad. The action of the Legisla- 
ture last year shows that it sees no reason why the inventive 
Yankee should not take his place beside them." To further 

•Bulletin 12, 1916, Problems Involved in Standardizing State Normal Schools. Judd and 
Parker. 



EXTENSION AND IMPROVEMENT. 233 

the purposes indicated, the state, in 1883, inaugurated an annual 
appropriation for free scholarships at the School of Design, 
beneficiaries to be appointed by the Board of Education. 

Since 1883 thousands of young people and workers have 
received in the Rhode Island School of Design, through state 
free scholarships, education which has helped them to improve- 
ment in trades and industries requiring skill and technical 
knowledge. The -opportunity for education thus offered has 
been appreciated; in every year since 1883 the demand for 
scholarships has exceeded the number which could be appor- 
tioned under the annual appropriation. The General Assembly 
has been constrained, from time to time, therefore, to increase 
its annual appropriation for scholarships. 

The Board of Education before the opening of the Normal 
School building advocated use of the basement as a textile 
school, but subsequently withdrew this recommendation when 
other use was found for the basement. The General Assembly, 
in 1913, provided an annual appropriation of $5000 for the 
School of Design, to be applied "exclusively to the general 
uses and purposes of its textile department," and a further 
appropriation of $5000 annually for the same purpose when the 
school provided a special building for its textile department. 
The new building was completed and in use in October, 1915. 
The annual appropriation for maintenance, scholarships and 
the textile school was $23,000 in 1917. 

Brown University. — In 1895 a plan for co-operation between 
the city of Providence and Brown University in the training of 
teachers for high schools was adopted. The university had 
already established a department of pedagogy with Walter B. 
Jacobs as instructor. The co-operative plan provided for an 
extension of the work of the department in the university, and 
the appointment of two graduate students annually at salaries 
of $400 each as student teachers in the city high schools. The 
work has since then been extended by the appointment of 



234 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

additional student teachers under salary and student teachers 
on part time without compensation, the city high schools 
serving as training and practice schools for the university. 
Fall River recently adopted a similar plan in co-operation with 
Brown University, and New York city has adopted the plan. 
The State Board of Education was authorized in 1912 to 
"provide in co-operation with Brown University suitable post- 
graduate courses of instruction in said university in the prin- 
ciples and practice of education, designed to prepare students 
for positions as superintendents of public schools and high 
school teachers and principals." An appropriation of $5000 
annually was provided, to be applied to the purposes named 
and to free scholarships, and the Board of Education was 
authorized "to appoint persons of proper age, character and 
acquirements who desire to become teachers, principals or 
superintendents in the public schools of this state to state 
scholarships, which shall enable them to pursue post-graduate 
courses of instruction in Brown University." Under this 
agreement a new professorship of educational psychology was 
established, and Stephen S. Colvin was called from Illinois 
University to the new chair in Brown. Under Professors 
Jacobs and Colvin the graduate department of education is 
flourishing. In four years of state support the graduate depart- 
ment of education has become the strongest in the university. 
The number of courses taken and the number of students have 
both increased more than 200 per cent. The increase has come 
through the students holding state scholarships. Benefit to the 
state has come through the improvement of the large number of 
prospective teachers and teachers in service who have under- 
taken study in the graduate department of education at the 
university. 

Rhode Island College of Pharmacy and Allied Sciences was 
granted a charter in 1902. In 1916 the General Assembly pro- 
vided an annual appropriation of $1000, to be expended under 



EXTENSION AND IMPROVEMENT. 235 

the direction of the State Board of Education for free state 
scholarships. The Board is empowered to visit and examine 
the college, and the college is required to make an annual report 
to the Board. 

High Schools. — The first public high school in Rhode Island 
was established in Providence in 1843. Newport established a 
public high school at the same period. Other town high schools 
followed in this order: Warren, 1847; Bristol and Woonsocket, 
1849; Paw-tucket, 1862; Westerly, Lincoln and Hopkinton, 1871; 
Barrington and East Providence, 1884; Johnston, 1885; New 
Shoreham, 1887 and 1898; Cranston, 1890; Burrillville, 1891; 
Cumberland, 1894; North Kingstown, 1901; South Kingstown, 
1904; Warwick, 1905. Lincoln high school became Central 
Falls high school in 1895. Johnston high school was closed 
when part of the town was annexed to Providence. South 
Kingstown high school was established in 1880 as a private high 
school. Warwick high school became West Warwick high 
school in 1913. 

The General Assembly by resolution in 1896 directed the 
State Board of Education to report measures for school im- 
provement, and the State Board of Education recommended, 
with other things, improved high school facilities. Twenty- 
two towns then had no high school, and these towns comprised 
80 per cent, of the area of the state, though their children num- 
bered only 20 per cent, of the school population. The General 
Assembly, in 1898, as part of an act "to secure a uniform high 
standard in public schools of the state," provided that "any 
town maintaining a high school having a course of study ap- 
proved by the State Board of Education, shall be entitled to 
receive annually from the state $20 for each pupil in average 
attendance for the first 25 pupils, and $15 for each pupil in 
average attendance for the second 25 pupils, and that any town 
not maintaining a high school, which shall make provision for 
free attendance of its children at some high school or academy 
approved by the State Board of Education, shall be entitled to 



236 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

receive aid on the same basis." In 1909 the aid was increased 
$5 per pupil, and the new law provided that a town not main- 
taining a high school must make provision at the expense of the 
town for free attendance of its children at some high school or 
academy approved by the Board. Thus the provision of a high 
school or high school education was made obligatory. This 
interpretation of the high school law has recently been estab- 
lished by a decision of the Commissioner of Public Schools, 
which was approved by a justice of the Supreme Court, and is, 
therefore, final in fact and in law. In the particular case the 
town's obligation to provide high school education was not 
denied, but it was asserted by the town that this obligation was 
limited to four years for each pupil, and was conditional upon 
the pupil's maintenance of class standing. The town refused 
to pay tuition for a boy who had already attended high school 
at the town's expense for four years without completing his 
course, and also for a boy who was repeating the school work for 
a year for which tuition had been paid by the town. The 
Commissioner held that the public high school, as an extension of 
the public elementary school, is to be governed by essentially 
the same rules and regulations, practices and customs; that 
no restrictions or conditions of the kind set up by the town had 
prevailed in elementary schools; that such restrictions and 
conditions were inconsistent with attendance laws, and con- 
trary to the public policy which dictates always an extension 
rather than a restriction of public education. The decision 
held that the law is mandatory. Hudson vs. Coventry. 

There were in 1917 22 high schools in Rhode Island, four in 
Providence and one each at Ashaway, Barrington, Bristol, 
Burrillville, Central Falls, Cranston, Cumberland, East Provi- 
dence, Hope Valley, Newport, North Kingstown, New Shore- 
ham, Pawtucket, South Kingstown, Warren, Westerly, West 
Warwick and Woonsocket. At Little Compton a high school 
offering a two-year course was being maintained. 



EXTENSION AND IMPROVEMENT. 



237 



State aid for high schools is conditional upon approval by the 
Board of Education. In 1914 the Board of Education appointed 
Professor Stephen S. Colvin inspector of high schools, and made 
it his duty to visit and examine all the high schools of the state 
as often as once a year, and other secondary schools as occasion 
may require. Minimum requirements* for the approval of 
standard high schools have been adopted by the Board of Edu- 



♦Minimum Requirements for the Approval 
of Standard High Schools in the State 
of Rhode Island: 

High schools in Rhode Island that meet 
the following requirements shall be classed 
as standard high schools and may be 
granted the approval of the State Board of 
Education, entitling them to state aid: 

1. That they shall be maintained at 
least 38 weeks in each school year. 

2. That three or more teachers shall be 
employed, and that there shall be at least 
one teacher for every 30 pupils enrolled 
in the school. Whenever possible, one 
teacher shall be provided for every 25 
pupils; and in laboratory courses not more 
than 20 pupils should be assigned to a 
teacher. 

3. That a teacher shall not be required 
to instruct classes more than five hours in 
any school day. In many cases a limit of 
four hours of class instruction is advisable. 
This does not include individual instruction 
and other school duties. 

4. That every teacher employed shall 
hold a certificate of qualifications granted 
by or under authority of the State Board 
of Education. In the engagement of 
teachers hereafter the aim should be to 
employ college graduates who have pur- 
sued graduate courses in professional prep- 
aration for at least one year. 

5. That one or more courses of four 
years, following an elementary course of 
eight years, shall be maintained, offering 
a minimum of 15 units of study, a unit 
meaning a single subject, or related sub- 
jects, pursued not less than four periods a 
week for a school year of not less than 38 
weeks; and that each subject and course 
be subject to the approval of the State 
Board of Education. 

6. That adequate equipment shall be 
provided for instruction in the courses 
maintained. Each high school should have 
a well-equipped library or study room, 



supervised by a teacher or properly quali- 
fied librarian, and containing books needed 
for reference and for regular or supple- 
mentary study in the subjects and arts 
taught. Each school should be provided 
with illustrative material, such as maps, 
charts, models, projection lanterns, etc. 
Courses in physics, chemistry and biology 
should be taught only in connection with 
properly equipped laboratories. Courses 
in commerce, agriculture, manual, domestic 
and industrial arts should be provided with 
an equipment suited to their needs. Li- 
brary, laboratory and other equipment will 
be subject to the approval of the State 
Board of Education on inspection. 

7. That proper standards of admission 
shall be determined aad regularly main- 
tained by local management. For admis- 
sion to an approved high school course of 
four years and graduation therefrom, the 
completion of a regular elementary school 
course, or equivalent, shall be required. 
A standard high school, however, may 
offer courses of less than four years, to 
which pupils of 14, or more, years of age 
may be admitted. 

8. That efficient instruction and govern- 
ment shall be regularly maintained. Lax 
government or inferior instruction will be 
deemed sufficient cause for the revocation 
of approval. 

9. That all legal requirements are ob- 
served. 

Provisional Approval of High Schools in 
Rhode Island. 
High schools in Rhode Island not fully 
meeting the requirements of standard high 
schools may be approved for the amount of 
secondary school work accomplished as a 
proportional part of the work of the four 
secondary school years, provided that they 
meet the requirements of standard high 
schools in length of school year and methods 
of admission, and give satisfactory evidence 
of efficiency in the work they attempt to do. 



238 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

cation, in substance as follows: (1) That they shall be main- 
tained at least 38 weeks in each school year; (2) that three or 
more teachers be employed, and not less than one teacher for 
each 30 pupils, no class in a laboratory to exceed 20 pupils per 
teacher; (3) that no teacher shall be required to instruct classes 
more than five hours a day; (4) that teachers hold teachers' 
certificates; (5) that one or more four-year courses be main- 
tained; (6) that adequate equipment be provided; (7) that 
proper standards of admission, not less than completion of 
elementary grades, shall be determined; (8) that efficient in- 
struction and government be regularly maintained, and (9) 
that all legal requirements be observed. The state law also 
requires approval of high schools or academies to which children 
are sent under the law permitting towns to draw high school 
money when not maintaining high schools. With the appoint- 
ment of the state inspector, all approvals were withdrawn; new 
approvals, based on his reports, are limited to three years for 
high schools and one year for other secondary schools, and are 
revocable at any time. Provisional approval of high school 
courses of less than four years may be made for the amount of 
high school work of approved standard accomplished. 

Public high schools have replaced academies. Of the early 
academies many, which though offering instruction in higher 
branches, were in reality private schools devoting much of their 
efforts to work now part of the elementary school grades, 
endured not long beyond the opening of public schools. Those 
that survived and others organized at later date confined them- 
selves to branches now taught in public high schools and to prepa- 
ration of boys and girls for college. Of the old Rhode Island 
academies only the Moses Brown School in Providence, replac- 
ing the Friends' School, and the East Greenwich Academy, 
replacing Kent Academy, are still in existence, though the 
latter is rather a quasi-public high school for the section than a 
genuine private academy. In recent years several select schools 



EXTENSION AND IMPROVEMENT. 239 

of secondary grade have been established in Rhode Island, and 
the Roman Catholic Church maintains academies in East 
Providence, Newport, Woonsocket, and three in Providence. 

III. IMPROVEMENT OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL 
SYSTEM. 

Improvement of public schools in the generation since public 
schools became absolutely free schools through the introduction 
of free textbooks has been directed along six principal lines of 
endeavor, as follows: 

1. Stricter compulsory attendance, extension of school age, 
and restriction of the employment of children. 

2. Establishment and maintenance of uniform high stand- 
ards for all schools. 

3. Improvements of teaching, and the economic and pro- 
fessional status of the teacher. 

4. Extension of expert supervision of schools, 

5. Abolition of districts and centralization of management. 

6. Provisions for the safety and health of school children. 

Compulsory Attendance and Employment of Children. 

The General Assembly in 1894 enacted the first law requiring 
factory inspection, providing for the appointment of two factory 
inspectors. Their duties included enforcement of the law 
excluding children under 12 years of age from factory employ- 
ment, and factories were required to keep registers of children 
under 16. In 1905 the number of factory inspectors was in- 
creased to three,* and the age of exclusion of children was raised 
to 13 years until December 31, 1906, and to 14 years after De- 
cember 31, 1906. The law of 1905 also contained the first draft 
of the present elaborate age and employment certificate legisla- 
tion. Two years later the limitation of the act to " factories, 

*Five in 1910 and thereafter. 



240 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

manufacturing and business establishments " was removed, the 
new law covering every person, firm or corporation . . . em- 
ploying five or more persons or employing any child under 16 
years of age, except at household service or in agricultural 
pursuits. The form of certificate has been changed from time 
to time, additional requirements tending to establish, by accu- 
rate description, the identity of the child certificated. The 
law, as amended in 1913, required a physician's certificate that 
the child was in sound health and physically fit for employment. 
As it affects children of school age, the factory inspection law 
is closely correlated with school age and attendance laws. 

The taking of the annual school census was transferred from 
the supervision of town councils to school committees in 1900, 
and the following year the election of truant officers likewise 
became a function of school committees. These reforms had 
been advocated by school authorities for several years, on the 
ground that the functions of school census and attendance 
officers are connected exclusively with schools. In 1902 school 
age was raised to 13 years for all children, and to 15 years for 
all children not regularly employed, and full school term attend- 
ance was substituted for the older requirement of 80 full school 
days. The law required every child under 15 years of age, 
"unless he has completed in the public schools the elementary 
studies taught in the first eight years of school attendance, 
exclusive of kindergarten instruction, provided in the course of 
study adopted by the school committee of the town where such 
child resides, or unless he shall have completed 13 years of life 
and shall be lawfully employed at labor or at service or engaged 
in business," to attend some public day school all the days and 
hours that the public schools are in session, with provision for 
instruction in other schools or privately, in substitution for 
instruction in public schools, provided the private instruc- 
tion or the instruction in other schools was approved by the 
school committee. School age was raised to 14 years in 1909, and 



EXTENSION AND IMPROVEMENT. 241 

in 1917 children under 16 were required to attend day school 
regularly unless they were over 14 and regularly and legally 
employed or engaged in business. After January 1, 1911, 
children under 16* were forbidden employment unless able to 
" read at sight and write legibly simple sentences in the English 
language," and unless healthy and physically able to work. An 
amendment in 1913 required that the child's "sound health" 
and physical fitness should be attested by a licensed physician 
who had made an examination of the child. 

The law in 1917 required (1) children under 14 years of age 
and (2) children under 16 years of age not regularly and legally 
employed or engaged in business, to attend day school regularly. 
No child under 14 may be employed, and no child under 16 may 
be employed without an age and employment certificate, 
specifying (a) that he has completed 14 years of age, (b) that 
he is able to read and write legibly simple sentences in the 
English language, and (c) that he has been examined physically 
by a licensed physician, and (d) that the physician has found 
the child "in sufficiently sound health and physically able to be 
employed in any of the occupations or processes in which a 
child between 14 and 16 years of age may be legally employed." 
The state pays for physical inspection. The child's age must 
be proved by (1) birth certificate, (2) baptismal certificate, 
or (3) passport. If none of these documents can be pro- 
duced, the child may be sent to the Secretary of the State 
Board of Education, who, alone, has authority to establish 
the age of the child on other evidence. Under the Federal 
Child Labor Law of 1917 the Rhode Island age and employ- 
ment certificate and the method of determining age were 
approved as meeting every requirement of the Federal law. 

The Board of Education in 1913, commenting on the report of 
the Russell Sage Foundation of the results of a comparative study 
of state school systems, said of school attendance: " For many 

The change in law did not affect children who had obtained certificates before the law 
became operative. 



242 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

years Rhode Island has made no appreciable gain in the per- 
centage of its children of school age in school, although some 
gains have been made in the average attendance of those en- 
rolled. While only 81.1 per cent, of the entire school popula- 
tion attended school for the year under review, it is significant 
that more than 94 per cent, of all children between 7 and 14 
years of age, which is the compulsory school age, were enrolled 
in school the same year. Our loss in attendance is clearly of 
youth more than 14 years of age. Ordinarily only six per cent, 
of those 15 years old, and four per cent, of those 16 years old, 
attend school. The fact that of nearly 35,000 youth from 14 
to 18 years of age, only 6802 were enrolled last year in our high 
schools also indicates a serious loss in education among those 
more than 14 years of age. Even if those 14 and 15 years of 
age who are not in regular employment were required to attend, 
or if continuation schools for those of these ages who are em- 
ployed, with regular attendance of a few hours weekly, were 
provided, untold gain might accrue in educational quantity 
and efficiency." 

An amendment to the certificate law in 1916 forbade the 
issuing of certificates for children other than those who pre- 
sented a request from a prospective employer. The certificate 
must be sent to the employer, who is required to return the 
certificate to the school committee when the child leaves his 
service. This amendment aimed at correcting two abuses: 
(1) The taking of certificates by children who wished to hold 
the certificate as an excuse for not attending school, and (2) the 
transfer of certificates to other children. Under the older prac- 
tice attendance officers seldom gave attention to children 
holding certificates, because the officers had no record of em- 
ployment. Since the amendment was adopted, attendance 
officers have been enabled to keep accurate records of children 
over 14 years of age. The amendment promises a substantial 
improvement in attendance of children 15 and 16 years of age. 



EXTENSION AND IMPROVEMENT. 243 

"A More Uniform Standard in the Public Schools." 

Resuming its function as a state school committee, the 
General Assembly in 1896 adopted resolutions, which follow: 

"Whereas, The Constitution of Rhode Island declares that 
'the diffusion of knowledge as well as of virtue among the people 
being essential to the preservation of their rights and liberties, 
it shall be the duty of the General Assembly to promote public 
schools, and to adopt all means which they may deem necessary 
and proper to secure to the people the advantages and oppor- 
tunities of education ;' and 

"Whereas, The opportunities afforded for education should 
be uniform throughout the state; and 

"Whereas, Owing to the inability of some of the towns to 
raise by taxation a sufficient amount of money to provide, with 
the assistance of the present state appropriations, public schools 
equal to those provided by the more populous and wealthy 
towns, the school facilities of the state are not uniformly of the 
highest grade; therefore 

"Resolved, That the State Board of Education be requested 
to prepare and report to the General Assembly measures by 
which the state shall still further supplement the revenues and 
efforts of the towns, to the end that the system of public schools 
throughout the state shall be uniformly of the highest attainable 
standard." 

The Board of Education's report covered school conditions 
systematically and in detail. High schools wer.e maintained in 
Providence, Newport, Pawtucket, Woonsocket, Central Falls, 
Cumberland, East Providence, Barrington, Warren, Bristol, 
Johnston, Westerly, Cranston, Ashaway and Hope Valley, 
while pupils from Lincoln attended high school in Central Falls. 
Most other towns maintained schoolhouses with one to four 
rooms, with some attempt at grading of pupils and courses of 
study, but pupils seldom reached the upper grammar grades. 
Six towns, Exeter, Foster, Little Compton, New Shoreham, 
Middletown and West Greenwich, had no graded schools. 
The towns maintaining high schools were mostly eastern 
towns. In the 22 towns having no high schools were 188 
schools, 131 of which had less than 20 pupils enrolled, 49 less 



244 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

than 10 pupils enrolled. The average size of schools, for the 
whole state was 36 pupils. The board urged the necessity of 
uniting small schools, but found that the 22 towns comprised 
80 per cent, of the total area of the state and contained only 
20 per cent, of the total school population. Of 72* teachers in 
the state having only common school education, 71 were em- 
ployed in the 22 towns. The highest salary paid to any teacher 
in these towns was $467.50 annually, and the lowest $230.83 
to a woman, and $209.05 to a man. These towns had only one- 
seventh of the taxable wealth of the state, and in 17 of them the 
per capita wealth was less than the general average throughout 
the state. The faults found by the Board were low grade or no 
grade schools, small schools, poorly prepared teachers and 
poorly paid teachers. The environmental difficulties were 
scattered population and low average per capita wealth. The 
Board recommended (1) Consolidation and grading of schools, 
(2) better examination of teachers' qualifications, (3) trained 
or skilled supervision, (4) high school facilities, (5) financial aid 
by the state, (6) that no town should lose any part of its share 
in the apportionment of state school money by reason of con- 
solidation and reduction in the number of its schools. 

The General Assembly, at the January session, 1898, passed 
"An Act to Secure a More Uniform High Standard in the 
Public Schools of the State." It provided: (1) That if any 
town should consolidate three or more ungraded schools, and 
instead thereof maintain a graded school of two or more de- 
partments, with an average number belonging of not less than 
20 pupils for each department, the state should pay $100 
annually for each department of said schools toward the support 
thereof. (2) That similar payment should be made for 
similar unions by two or more towns. (3) That if any un- 
graded district school were consolidated with a graded school, 
the state should pay $100 for each district consolidated, to be 

♦Only 13 such teachers were employed in 1916. 



EXTENSION AND IMPROVEMENT. 245 

used for the support of the school or the transportation of pupils. 
(4) State aid for high schools, or for towns making provision 
for attendance of their children at high schools or academies 
in other towns. (5) An appropriation of $20,000 annually, 
to be apportioned by the Commissioner of Public Schools. 
(6) That no town should forfeit any part of its share in the 
state school money apportioned on the basis of number of 
schools, by reason of a reduction in the number of its schools 
by consolidation. (7) That school committees might con- 
solidate schools in which the average number belonging was less 
than 12, for the purpose of establishing graded schools, and 
should have authority to provide for the transportation of 
pupils to and from schools. (8) That no person should be 
employed as principal or assistant in any school supported 
wholly or in part by public money unless such person held a 
certificate of qualification issued by or under the authority of 
the State Board of Education. After 1900 consolidation of 
schools by school committees must be approved by the Com- 
missioner of Public Schools. After 1903 the Commissioner of 
Public Schools was authorized to deduct from any town's share 
of state school money an amount equal to the wages paid by 
the town to any teacher not holding a state certificate. 

Briefly, the law of 1898 provided for the improvement of 
schools (1) by consolidation of small ungraded schools and the 
establishment of graded schools, (2) by encouraging the establish- 
ment of high schools through state aid, and (3) by state certifica- 
tion of teachers, or the establishment of standard qualifications. 
The law discriminated between the powers granted towns and 
the powers granted school committees, the former having a 
general power to consolidate schools, the latter power to act 
only when the average number belonging to a school fell below 
12*. The premium for consolidation of schools was also an 
inducement for abandonment of the district organization. 

*In 1915 the restriction was abolished. The school committee may close a school and 
furnish free transportation for pupils sent to other schools. 



246 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

Further aid for rural schools was provided by an act passed 
in 1913, which appropriated $5000 annually "in aid of the 
public schools of the state, to be apportioned by the State 
Board of Education, upon the recommendation of the Com- 
missioner of Public Schools, for the purpose of aiding the schools 
in such of the towns whose taxable property is not adequate at 
the average rate of taxation throughout the state to provide 
public schools of high standard." Money apportioned under 
this act "may be used in the building or repairing of school- 
houses, the furnishing of the same and in the purchase of school 
equipment, books or supplies, and for the payment of teachers." 

In the first report of the Board of Education following its 

enactment the law was called "the law providing a special 

appropriation to meet conditions of urgent need." The law 

followed the closing of schools in several rural towns for want 

of available funds. Of the operation of the law, the board said: 

"It is enough to report here that under the approval of the 
Board of Education, the first object sought, through special 
arrangements with school committees of towns that have had 
short school years, was to insure for every boy and girl in the 
state school education for at least 36 weeks during the current 
year. This has been accomplished through provision already 
made that will insure a year of 36 weeks at least for every school 
in the school year beginning in September, 1913. In addition, 
other needed improvements have been made in the one-room 
schools of about 20 towns. This work has been governed by 
the following purposes: That expenditures should be made 
only to meet real needs; that no part of the appropriation 
should be applied to purposes for which local revenues are 
available; that aid in all cases should tend to encourage larger 
local responsibility and in no way lessen local expenditure, 
and that all efforts for improvement should be made in co-opera- 
tion with school committees and with their active participation. 
School committees have zealously responded to these efforts 
to improve their schools, and in every case the town that has 
received any part of the special appropriation will have expended 
for the current year a larger sum for school purposes derived 
from local revenues than in the preceding year." 

The General Assembly, in 1914, made the minimum school 
year 36 weeks, thus forbidding any retrogression from the 



EXTENSION AND IMPROVEMENT. 247 

standard already attained. The average school year was 35 
weeks and 4 days, that is, 179 days, in 1873. In 1895 it had 
reached 189 days, only one day short of New Jersey, which was 
first with 190 days; in 1898 it reached 191 days, but in 1899 it 
receded to 190 days, when Providence closed its schools early 
after a 37 weeks session. The comparative study of the public 
school systems of the 48 states undertaken by the Russell Sage 
Foundation showed that Rhode Island, with 193 days, was first 
in average length of school year, and fourth in the average 
number of school days per child, 116. The average school year 
in 1915 was 195 days; in 1916, 194 days. The minimum school 
year of 180 days promises to improve both records. 

Improvement of Teachers and the Status of Teachers. 

Four principal methods have been adopted to improve 
teachers, and the professional and economic status of teachers, 
as follows: Certification, pensions, and a minimum salary 
law, and professional education: 

The "uniform high standard" act of 1898 gave the State 
Board of Education exclusive power to examine and license 
school teachers. This power was granted originally to school 
committees. Under the Barnard act, while school committees 
retained the power to examine and license teachers for schools 
within their respective towns, provision was made for wider 
certification by county inspectors and by the Commissioner of 
Public Schools. The plan for higher certification was not 
successful. The Trustees of the Normal School, in 1880, after 
issuing one certificate under the authority given nearly 10 years 
earlier, regretted that it had been forced to act under the law. 

Certification. — Shortly after 1880, however, a recommendation 
that the power to examine and license teachers be taken from 
school committees, and that qualifications be standardized by a 
state system of certification, became an annual feature of the 
School Reports, rivalled in frequency of repetition only by the 



248 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

recommendations that school districts be abolished and that 
expert supervision of schools be required. The law of 1898 was 
broad in its simplicity of statement, and sweeping in the au- 
thority conferred upon the Board of Education, which had 
power, not only to issue certificates, but to determine the 
grades of certificates and the qualifications essential. All exist- 
ing certificates were abolished, and the Board was at liberty to 
examine all teachers in service, as well as applicants for first 
certificates. Wise discretion was exercised in administering the 
new law, so that hardship was avoided. Four grades of certifi- 
cates were provided by the Board, of which two were distinctly 
professional. The certificate law permits the Board of Educa- 
tion, and the law is used for this purpose, to raise gradually the 
standards of teaching in all the public schools of the state, by 
insisting upon better preparation of candidates for certificates. 
In 1903 strict enforcement of the certificate law was simplified 
by the authority given the Commissioner of Public Schools to 
withhold an amount of state school money equal to the wages 
paid by any town to a teacher without a state certificate. 

The requirements for certification are : First grade — Gradu- 
ation from an approved college and completion of courses in the 
history of education, educational psychology, philosophy of 
education, methodology, school management and school law. 
Second grade — Graduation from the Rhode Island Normal 
School or an approved normal school maintaining at least a two 
years professional course after graduation from a four-year 
high school. Third grade — Successful examination in elemen- 
tary school studies, school methods, school management and 
school law, or presentation of evidence of successful pursuit of 
these studies. Fourth grade — Elementary school subjects; 
these certificates are limited to two years and may not be re- 
newed; the holder must qualify at the end of two years for a 
third grade certificate. Evening school certificates of the third 
and fourth grade are issued. Temporary or provisional cer- 



EXTENSION AND IMPROVEMENT. 249 

tificates are issued only to college graduates and teachers who 
prove successful experience, and are valid only until the next 
public examination. Special certificates, limiting the holder 
to specific subjects, are granted on proof of character, proper 
education, training or experience, and successful teaching 
experience or proof of ability to teach. All candidates must 
file written testimonials of good moral character, and the names 
of at least two responsible persons as references. All must sign 
an oath or pledge of loyalty to the United States and the State 
of Rhode Island. 

Pensions. — One of Commissioner Ranger's early recommenda- 
tions was pensions for school teachers. In 1907 legislation pro- 
vided that any person 60 years old, who for 35 years had been 
engaged in teaching as his principal occupation, 25 of which, 
including the 15 immediately preceding retirement, were in the 
public schools, or such other schools as are supported wholly 
or in part by state appropriations, might be retired or retire 
voluntarily on an annual pension equal to one-half his average 
contractual salary during the last five years before retiring, but 
in no case could the pensioner draw more than $500 per year. 
Administration of the pension law was entrusted to the State 
Board of Education. After 1909 a teacher in service 35 years 
need not have reached 60 years of age before retirement. In 
1914 provision was made for the retirement on pensions of 
teachers regularly employed not less than 20 years who become 
physically or mentally incapacitated, the pension to be a pro- 
portionate part of the ordinary pension determined by the ratio 
of his total years of service to 35 years. The highest pension 
paid under the law is $500; the lowest is $115, and the average 
is approximately $345. The total amount of pensions in force 
is in excess of $45,000 annually, and the total cost to the state 
has been $300,000 in round numbers, since 1907. A notable 
feature of the Rhode Island teachers' pension law is that the 
pension system is supported exclusively by the state. No 



250 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

teacher is compelled, or even 'asked, to contribute toward his 
pension. The law is, therefore, distinctly and without alloy 
a measure for the improvement of the economic status of teach- 
ers, who are relieved by its provisions of some part of the burden 
of saving for old age. At the same time the law serves another 
purpose; it provides for the retirement, in a manner worthy of 
the state, of veteran teachers whose usefulness has diminished. 

Minimum Salary. — Another of Commissioner Ranger's 
earliest recommendations — with teachers' pensions one of the 
10 recommendations in his report for 1906, which substantially 
outlined his platform and programme for the improvement of 
Rhode Island schools — was a teachers' minimum salary law. 
The recommendation was not essentially new; other Com- 
missioners and the Board of Education had suggested such a 
solution of the problem occasioned by low salaries. A minimum 
salary law was adopted in 1909, providing that "the annual 
salary of a teacher regularly employed in any public school of 
the state shall not be less than $400," and that the state should 
reimburse towns for one-half the expense incurred by meeting 
the requirements of the new law. The law. though mandatory 
in form, carries no penalty. Yet there was a quick response on 
the part of the 21 towns affected. Commenting on the law in 
1913, the State Board of Education said: "The fact that the 
average salary of all teachers in our public schools is $681* shows 
that an annual salary of $400 is too low to command, in general, 
the services of teachers of average ability. Many defects of 
public education, without question, are due to low salaries. 
Nevertheless, the minimum salary law has remedied the worst 
conditions due to ridiculously low salaries, and was a measure 
of great importance." 

Curiously enough, the minimum salary law had another effect 
on rural school conditions besides the enrichment of teachers. 
More than one local school committee, faced with the duty of 

*The average salary was $714.37 in 1915, $721.91 in 1916, $736.78 in 1917. 



EXTENSION AND IMPROVEMENT. 251 

increasing the salaries of teachers, realized the possibility of 
getting something for their towns for the additional expenditure. 
Shrewd committee men "reckoned" that the teacher's salary- 
could be increased without raising her wages, and that the 
increased salary might just as well be earned by requiring the 
teacher to keep school for a longer period. If, for instance, a 
teacher earned $320 for 32 weeks at $10 per week, the minimum 
salary law might be met either by raising her wages to $12.50 
or by extending the school year to 40 weeks, at the same rate 
of wages — the second plan was followed. Under such cir- 
cumstances it is not difficult to understand that the minimum 
salary law was a helpful factor in lengthening the school year. 

Education for Teachers. — -Besides the unsurpassed provision 
for the education and training of teachers for elementary schools 
provided by Rhode Island Normal School, other opportunities 
for educating teachers are provided or assisted by the state, 
through extension courses at the Normal School, through regular 
courses for teacher training at Rhode Island State College and 
Rhode Island School of Design, and through the graduate 
department of education at Brown University. Teachers' in- 
stitutes receive state aid, lectures and addresses for teachers' 
meetings are provided through the department of education, 
an educational library is maintained for teachers, and educa- 
tional publications are freely distributed. In 1917 a summer 
school for teachers was conducted at Rhode Island Normal 
School. 

Extension of Expert Supervision. 

Upon the recommendation of the Board of Education in its 
first report the General Assembly, in 1871, required every town 
to employ a superintendent of schools. The problem of super- 
vision had made little further progress toward solution 25 years 
later. In the meantime school committees had been given ex- 
clusive power to elect the superintendent, but the towns still 



252 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

retained effective control of the office through the power to fix 
salaries. In 1902 school committees were given authority to 
determine what compensation should be paid the superintendent, 
and the following year "An Act Providing for the Better 
Management of Public Schools" (1) authorized the union of 
towns in which the aggregate number of schools did not exceed 
60, for the purpose of hiring a joint superintendent, and the 
payment by the state of one-half the joint salary, the state's 
share not to exceed $750 for each union, and (2) provided for 
the payment of $750 per year to any town employing a super- 
intendent at not less than $1500 a year. No state money was 
to be paid, however, in any case for supervising less than 40 
schools, but this restriction was removed in 1904. Only one 
union superintendency resulted. In 1912 school committees 
were authorized to form unions, but no new union resulted. 
Since 1908 superintendents have been required to hold certifi- 
cates of qualification issued by the Board of Education. By 
act of 1913 the law requiring the election of superintendents 
annually was amended. No legal tenure of office is provided 
for superintendents, but the law, by establishing no tenure, 
permits the school committee and superintendent to determine 
the period of employment by contract. 
The Board of Education, in 1913, said: 

"Of such vital importance is efficient supervision in school 
administration that we may not expect wholly satisfactory 
results until every school in the state has the benefits of the 
constant oversight and direction of a superintendent of pro- 
fessional or expert qualifications. . . . There remain, 
as a year ago, 17* of our towns, mostly those having few schools, 
which are under the supervision cf superintendents who devote 
part of their time to this service. All towns and cities employ- 
ing superintendents of approved qualifications who give ex- 
clusive service to supervision of schools receive state aid for 
such supervision. Efforts have been made in legislation to en- 
courage towns having few schools to unite for purposes of super- 
vision. . . . Another effort might be made to bring about 
desirable results by authorizing the Board of Education to effect 

*Number reduced to 16 in 1914; to 14 in 1915; to 7 in 1917. 



EXTENSION AND IMPROVEMENT. 253 

arrangements, on the request of school committees, at an ex- 
pense to the state for each town not to exceed the amount now 
allowed a town. Five superintendents could supervise, with 
efficiency, the schools of the 17 towns remaining. In the want 
of expert and systematic supervision the children of rural schools 
suffer an inequality of educational provisions in comparison 
with children of urban schools. The state is expending annually 
a large sum in support of school supervision, but the 17 towns 
to which reference is made receive no share of it. In other 
words, these towns have thus far neglected to profit by pro- 
visions for supervision offered by the state. More than all 
other teachers, the isolated teacher of a country school needs 
the visitation of an expert supervisor, who can sympathetically, 
intelligently and skilfully help her to correct her mistakes and 
to strengthen all the good work she is now doing. Our school 
committees, whose members are absorbed in private interests, 
need the expert superintendent to acquaint them with the con- 
dition of their schools as judged by true standards, and to give 
counsel for the best management of them." 

A bill providing for the plan of supervision advocated by the 
Board failed of passage on the last day of the session of the 
General Assembly in 1914. Another bill, slightly modifying 
the original plan, passed the General Assembly in 1915. It 
provided that, upon the request of the school committee of any 
town, the State Board of Education may provide supervision 
of professional grade, at an expense to the state of not exceeding 
$750 per town, the town paying not less than $15 per school 
toward the superintendent's salary. Two towns applied for 
supervision in 1915, and were organized as a state superintend- 
ency district. Six other towns were similarly organized as three 
districts in 1917, and one town, in 1917, elected a professional 
superintendent at a salary of $1500, under the plan for state 
aid to the amount of $750 annually. There remained, in 1917, 
only seven towns without professional supervision. 

Abolition of Districts. 

The act of 1884, permitting towns to abolish school districts, 
was amended in 1894 in such manner as to make the procedure 
more convenient; essentially the change permitted the vote to 



254 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

abolish districts to be taken by referendum instead of in town 
meeting. By 1894 14 town school systems were being admin- 
istered without districts, as follows: Barrington, Bristol, Bur- 
rillville, Cranston, Cumberland, East Providence, Johnston, 
Lincoln, Newport, North Providence, Pawtucket, Providence, 
Warren and Woonsocket. It is not merely a coincidence that 
this list very closely resembles the list of towns supporting high 
schools at the same period, and that most towns in the list are 
northern and eastern towns. A list of towns employing full- 
time superintendents of schools at the same time would be, for 
the most part, merely a repetition of the list of towns which were 
operating schools on the town plan and had established high 
schools. What appears to be a coincidence is simply positive 
proof that the problem of school improvement in Rhode Island, 
though calling for several reforms, has been essentially unitary. 
Several reforms were quite likely to follow speedily any deter- 
mined effort to improve school conditions. But it is a condition 
precedent to improvement that the taxable wealth of the town 
shall be sufficient to permit reform, or that aid shall be fur- 
nished from some other source than public taxation of town 
property. The east and west division of Rhode Island deter- 
mined by the quality of schools is almost exactly the division 
determined by wealth and population. 

Improvement of rural schools, in the last analysis, is largely a 
financial question. Comparisons are invidious; but it is ridicu- 
lous to talk of town responsibility for schools, while the towns 
supporting the poorest schools sometimes are assessing them- 
selves for schools more than double the amount per dollar of 
taxable wealth assessed in more prosperous communities, whose 
schools are models for excellence. The actual variation in 
town support, measured by the taxes paid for school support, 
is four to one in Rhode Island. 

There was, to be sure, opposition to the abolition of districts. 
The constitutionality of the several acts by which the end was 



EXTENSION AND IMPROVEMENT. 255 

reached was tested in the courts, and the act that abolished 
districts finally was also tested. An important decision was 
rendered by the Supreme Court in 1895 (Town of Johnston, 
19 R. I. 279), in which the court held that registry voters might 
vote legally on the question of abolishing districts. The 
decision extended the referendum beyond the taxpayers. 
Although the amount of taxation was involved in the adjust- 
ment of school property rights, the court held that the abolition 
of school districts was essentially not a question of taxation, but 
a question of school administration. The decision recognized 
the interest of the citizen in schools without regard to his liability 
as a taxpayer. 

Central Falls became a city in 1895 without the district sys- 
tem. Jamestown and Little Compton abolished districts in 
1899, and South Kingstown and Westerly fell into line in 1902. 
Thus half the towns in the state were operating schools on the 
town plan when the Rhode Island Institute of Instruction took 
up the district question in 1902 and began agitation for com- 
plete abolition. In 1903 the General Assembly passed a law 
that abolished all remaining districts after January 1, 1904. It 
is significant that the .same act permitted unions of towns for 
the employment of joint superintendents, and provided state 
aid for the payment of salaries of professional superintendents, 
and that another act, passed the same day, provided a penalty 
for the employment of teachers without state certificates. 

The abolition of districts was an important progressive 
measure, but it was not a panacea. As already pointed out, 
the school problem in rural Rhode Island is largely a financial 
problem. Change in the form of administration, while helpful, 
must fall far short of being an adequate remedy; and it did. 
Moreover, the law abolishing districts was an imperfect and 
carelessly drafted measure. Such important sections of the 
school law as those regulating the length of the school year, the 
number of pupils per teacher and the consolidation of ungraded 



256 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

with graded schools, were written in the phraseology of district 
regulations. Whether they had any force as law after January 
1, 1904, is a question for moot court or law club. When the stat- 
utes were revised in 1909, the commission omitted sections re- 
ferring to school districts, and the measures already mentioned 
disappeared altogether from the statute books. The saving 
grace of intention and interpretation could not be pleaded in 
favor of a written law which had been deliberately omitted 
from the General Laws. The law permitting the consolidation 
of ungraded district schools with graded schools was re-enacted 
with omission of the word " district " in 1910. The law limit- 
ing the number of pupils per teacher has never been revived, 
and the minimum school year reappeared only in 1914. 

Provisions for the Safety and Health of School Children. 

Seminaries, colleges, academies and schoolhouses were in- 
cluded in the buildings required, in 1890, to be equipped with 
fire escapes. The law was amplified in 1908, providing there- 
after for windows and doors swinging outward, and for in- 
spection. By act of 1913 school principals, public and private, 
are required to conduct fire drills. The Commissioner of Public 
Schools has published rules for fire drills. 

Sanitary Standards. — In 1911 the Board of Education was 
empowered from time to time to "approve proper standards 
of lighting, heating, ventilating, seating and other sanitary 
arrangements of school buildings, and proper regulations con- 
cerning the same as it may deem necessary for the safety and 
health of persons who may attend school," and to "communi- 
cate the same to the school committee of each city and town 
and to any committee having charge of the erection, alteration, 
equipment or furnishing of any school building." The Board's 
power is merely advisory. Standards, carefully drawn after 
several years of investigation and study, were adopted by the 
Board in 1917. 



EXTENSION AND IMPROVEMENT. 257 

Sight and Hearing Tests. — Every superintendent of schools, is 
required, by act of 1911, to cause "an examination of the sight 
and hearing of all children of the schools under his supervision 
to be made at least once a year by teachers or school physicians," 
and to make provision for preserving the records of the exami- 
nations of school children and for notifying parents of defects. 

Medical Inspection. — The same act provided an annual appro- 
priation for medical inspection in schools, to be apportioned by 
the State Board of Education among the towns providing ap- 
proved medical inspection, the state paying one-half the town's 
expenditure up to a limit of $250 per town. The law permits 
the school committee in any town to employ inspecting phy- 
sicians to make examinations at least once each year of pupils, 
teachers and janitors of schools, public and private. Eighteen 
towns, including about 85 per cent, of the school population, 
make provision for regular medical inspection, as follows: 
Barrington, Bristol, Central Falls, Coventry, East Providence, 
Jamestown, Johnston, Hopkinton, Newport, North Providence, 
North Smithfield, Pawtucket, Providence, Warren, Warwick, 
West Warwick, Westerly and Woonsocket. 

Town reports show 63 physicians and 16 nurses engaged in 
medical inspection, and annual expenditures exceeding $25,000. 
More than 75,000 children receive the benefits of medical 
inspection. 

Physical Training. — The General Assembly in 1917, upon the 
recommendation of the State Board of Education, and urged 
by petitions presented by organizations interested in child 
welfare, enacted a law which requires that every child over 
eight years of age, receiving instruction in public or private 
schools, shall have an average of 20 minutes instruction in 
physical education for every school day. The State Board of 
Education was entrusted with the duty of putting the new law 
into effect, and, under the direction of the Commissioner of 



258 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

Public Schools, a Syllabus for Physical Education was prepared 
by Miss Gertrude Manchester of Rhode Island Normal School. 
This syllabus, a volume of 120 pages, has been printed and 
distributed to teachers in public and private schools throughout 
the state. 

Dental Inspection. — An act passed in 1917 requires medical 
inspectors to report defective teeth and other dental defects 
needing attention, and provides for notice to be sent to parents. 
The law also permits school committees to establish public 
dental clinics, and to provide for the treatment in these clinics 
of .children whose parents neglect after a month's notice to 
remedy conditions needing attention. 

Examination of Children for Employment. — No child may be 
granted an age and employment certificate until he has been 
examined by a reputable physician, and has been found to be 
sound in health and physically fit for employment. 

Hazing of students was forbidden by statute in 1909. Towns 
were authorized, in 1912, to provide open-air schools for delicate 
children and to furnish for the conduct of "such schools, such 
medical, food or other supplies as are necessary for the purpose 
for which such schools are or may be established." 

OTHER IMPROVEMENTS. 

Travelling Libraries. — Under the administration of the Board 
of Education, the work of assisting public libraries has been 
broadened beyond the provision of financial aid in the law 
of 1875. There were, in 1917, 62 free public libraries in the 
state, containing nearly 600,000 books and making more than 
1,130,000 loans annually. In 1907 the Board of Education 
was authorized "to establish and maintain a system of travel- 
ling libraries within the state, to render aid to libraries which 
shall establish branch or visiting libraries in schools or places 
approved by said board, and to render aid to associations which 



EXTENSION AND IMPROVEMENT. 259 

operate travelling libraries." The act carried an annual appro- 
priation. Four years later the appropriation was doubled, and 
the Board was authorized " to provide for the visitation and 
examination of free public libraries and the management of 
travelling libraries." Travelling libraries made loans totalling 
10,627 in 1908, 19,369 in 1909, 25,623 in 1910, 28,284 in 1911, 
30,073 in 1912, 31,464 in 1913, 33,717 in 1914, 47,770 in 1915, 
52,106 in 1916, and 47,761 in 1917. 

There had been no increase in the number of travelling 
libraries or the number of volumes in them in three years up 
to 1914, although the circulation increased 5000 volumes. The 
Board of Education, in its report for 1913, attributed the 
failure of increase to the fact that "a point in their develop- 
ment" had been reached "where it now takes nearly all available 
means to replace books, repair libraries and meet the expenses 
of operation." The board recommended a larger appropriation. 
The appropriation was increased by $500 to $2500 in 1915. 
The figures for the three years following 1914 show marked gains 
in the number of volumes «and in the circulation of travelling 
libraries. 

Patriotic Instruction. — Without a distinct announcement of 
its purpose, the state is making a notable effort to teach patriot- 
ism in the schools, an undertaking rendered necessary by the 
large population of foreign birth or foreign parentage, the chief 
agency for whose assimilation is the public school. The ob- 
servance of school holidays serves the purpose in an admirable 
manner. The policy of the state in this respect has changed 
somewhat in recent years. For the older practice of closing 
schools has been substituted observance by appropriate school 
exercises. Arbor Day was the first holiday for school ob- 
servance, and in connection with it, the Commissioner of Public 
Schools prepares annually a programme, 60,000 copies of which 
are distributed in the schools and serve as a guide and help 
for teachers arranging school programmes. Grand Army Flag 



260 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

Day, Feb. 12, commemorating as well the birthday of Abraham 
Lincoln, was the first patriotic holiday observed in similar 
manner ; and May 4, as Rhode Island Independence Day, com- 
memorating the Rhode Island Declaration of Independence, is 
also an annual day for special observance. School holidays are 
New Year's, Washington's Birthday, Memorial Day, July 4, 
Labor Day, Columbus Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas. 
The Commissioner of Public Schools is required by law to pro- 
vide a uniform salute to the flag, to be used daily in the schools. 
School committees must supply every schoolhouse with a flag 
and flagpole. The display of foreign flags, except on special 
occasions and then only in connection with the American flag, is 
forbidden. 

Vocational Education* — The General Assembly, in 1910, 
directed the Commissioner of Public Schools to make an in- 
vestigation of the conditions and needs of the state in respect 
to "industrial education, including agricultural education, and 
to investigate the practice and progress of industrial and agri- 
cultural education in other states, and to make a report thereon, 
with his recommendations, to the General Assembly." The 
report was a document of 100 printed pages, covering the sub- 
jects thoroughly and in detail. In 1912 the General Assembly 
authorized state aid in support of industrial education, as 
follows : 

"In case any town shall provide instruction in manual 
training and household arts in its public schools, with the 
approval of the State Board of Education, such town shall be 
entitled to receive as aid from the state a sum not exceeding 
one-half of the amount expended by said town for the purchase 
of apparatus necessary for such instruction. 

"Any town that shall establish and maintain day or evening 
courses for vocational industrial education, including instruc- 
tion in the principles and practice of agriculture and training 
in the mechanic and other industrial arts, which courses are 
approved as to equipment, instruction, expenditure, super- 
vision and conditions of attendance by the State Board of 

*See R. I. School of Design, supra. 



EXTENSION AND IMPROVEMENT. 261 

Education, shall be entitled to receive aid from the state in 
support of instruction in such courses to an amount not exceed- 
ing one-half of the entire expenditure of the same. The cost 
of equipment or of buildings or of land or of rent of rooms shall 
not be included in this reckoning. This section shall not be 
construed to entitle towns to receive state aid for manual 
training high schools or other secondary schools maintaining 
manual training departments, except in so far as such schools 
include courses properly classed as industrial courses." 

An appropriation of $5000 was made to carry out the pro- 
visions of the act, and this was made an annual appropriation in 
1914. Pawtucket, Central Falls, Warwick and Westerly were 
the earliest towns to take advantage of the law and receive 
state aid. "The criticism so frequently made," said the Board 
of Education in 1913, "that the work of the public schools is in 
no way related to the outside interests of the child cannot be 
made of the schools in these places. The time appears to be 
approaching when it will be more and more difficult to justify, 
in any of our schools, criticism of this sort. With the increased 
opportunities for choice in studies made possible by the more 
general introduction of industrial education in the schools, it 
will be possible to determine with greater certainty just what 
the individual needs of each child are, and to offer him what 
will contribute most to his highest development." 

The extension of industrial vocational education in Rhode 
Island has not been rapid. The people seem to have discrimi- 
nated between vocational education in schools beyond and 
apart from the public elementary schools, and such education 
in the public schools. Dr. Ranger has attributed this discrimi- 
nation to a keen regard for the education common to all. Rhode 
Island accepted the provisions of the Federal Vocational Edu- 
cation law in 1917, which provided Federal assistance for this 
sort of education. 

Evening Schools. — Public evening schools have been a care 
of the Board of Education since 1873. A marked gain in the 
efficiency of these schools followed the passage of the teachers' 



262 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

certificate law. The raising of school age has taken from the 
evening schools a considerable proportion of juvenile scholars, 
emphasizing the mission of these schools among the older 
youth and the adult population. Disorderly elements have 
been rigorously excluded, and standards have been established 
and insisted upon. Special classes for foreigners have been 
provided, and a better grade of teachers induced to take up the 
work. The personnel of the teaching force, the morale of the 
schools, and the dignity and efficiency maintained are splendid. 
Bristol, Burrillville, Central Falls, Coventry, Cranston, Cumber- 
land, Lincoln, Newport, Pawtucket, Providence, Warren, West- 
erly, West Warwick, and Woonsocket maintain evening schools. 
East Providence, Johnston and North Providence make pro- 
vision for the instruction of those who apply for it, in the 
evening schools of Providence. In the cities the work of the 
evening schools includes high school classes. Emphasis is 
placed upon practical application, and as a rule the evening 
schools are more closely related to the outside interests of their 
pupils than are the day schools. In 1917 the State Board of 
Education condemned a rising practice of charging a registra- 
tion fee for evening schools, holding that evening schools, like 
day schools, are under the law "free public schools." 

Kindergarten and Montessori. — The public kindergarten — a 
modification of the Froebel school adapted to American needs — 
has come to be an adjunct of some city school systems, in spite 
of the opinion, expressed by the Board of Education in 1895, 
that the cost was prohibitive. At the Pthode Island Normal 
School an experiment with the Montessori infant school is 
being conducted, in charge of Miss Clara Craig, who spent a 
year in Italy with Madame Montessori. The past decade has 
witnessed the beginning and rapid extension of school play- 
grounds, school gardens, vacation schools, school lectures, 
recreation centres, mothers' clubs and school improvement 
associations, all contributing to wider use of the schools and 



EXTENSION AND IMPROVEMENT. 263 

the recognition of the public school . as a community social 
centre. 

THE PROGRESS OF IMPROVEMENT. 

Returning to 1894, the Board of Education in that year made 
three principal recommendations: (1) That school districts be 
abolished, (2) that a state system of examination and certifica- 
tion of teachers be inaugurated, and (3) that expert or pro- 
fessional supervision be extended to cover all sections of the 
state. Other improvements advocated by the Board were 
increased school accommodations and supervision of school- 
house construction; extension of manual training, then already 
inaugurated in Newport and Providence, and at Sockanosset; 
improvement in the teaching of drawing; extension of school 
work among defective classes, and a new School Manual. The 
Commissioner of Public Schools discussed conditions in rural 
schools, citing the fact that 64 schools in the state accommo- 
dated less than 10 pupils each. Contrary to modern notions 
of the value of individual instruction which small classes makes 
possible, the Commissioner characterized these schools as bad 
schools, because the pupils lacked the incentive of classroom 
rivalry. Aside from pedagogical reasoning, it is altogether 
likely that he was right, because the 10-pupil school usually 
has been a neglected school conducted by an inferior teacher. 
The Commissioner advocated closing such schools and pro- 
vision for the transportation of children to larger schools. 
Together the two reports outlined a comprehensive programme 
for school improvement. 

A revised School Manual was published in 1896. In the same 
year the city of Providence was brought under the general school 
law. This was an important change, beyond the administrative 
reform in the city itself, where the school committee was freed 
from control by the city council. For the state at large it 
meant abolition of recognition of two standards for schools, and 
the rallying of Providence to interest in the general state school 



264 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

system, of which the city schools were thereafter to be a part. 
In the same year also, the General Assembly resumed its func- 
tion as a state school committee, and asked the Board of Educa- 
tion to recommend measures for raising the public schools of 
the state to a uniform high standard. The act of 1898, follow- 
ing the Board's report, was in title, "An Act to Secure a More 
Uniform High Standard in the Public Schools of the State," 
and in its provisions for (a) financial aid to encourage grading 
of schools, (b) financial aid for high schools, and (c) state cer- 
tification of teachers, one of the most important in the history 
of public education in Rhode Island. After the act of 1828 
establishing public schools, and the Barnard act reorganizing 
the system, it ranks with the abolition of tuition, free textbooks, 
compulsory attendance and the abolition of districts. 

The laws (1) of 1900 transferring the taking of the school 
census from town councils to school committees; (2) of 1901 
transferring the duty of electing truant officers from town coun- 
cils to school committees; (3) of 1902 permitting school com- 
mittees to determine the compensation to be paid superin- 
tendents of schools, and (4) of 1903 directing the Commissioner 
of Public Schools to withhold state school money for violation 
of the law requiring teachers to hold state certificates, accom- 
plished administrative reforms, and were corrective of earlier 
legislation. Compulsory school age was raised to 13 years in 
1902, and the period of required attendance was increased from 
80 days to the full school year for all children under 14, and for 
children 14 years old not lawfully employed or engaged in 
business. In 1903 "An Act Providing for the Better Manage- 
ment of Public Schools" provided (1) for the abolition of school 
districts, (2) for joint superintendencies, and (3) for financial 
aid for the payment of salaries of full-time superintendents of 
schools. 

Commissioner Stockwell resigned in 1905, after 30 years of 
service, a record equal to the combined service of all his prede- 



EXTENSION AND IMPROVEMENT. 265 

cessors. His best effort while in office had been his fight for 
improved attendance, in which he led the state to clear under- 
standing of the modern theory of universal education, to be 
enforced by compulsory school attendance. Other important 
reforms accomplished during his administration were the intro- 
duction of free textbooks and the abolition of districts, the 
latter the last major reform needed to round out the Barnard 
act. His successor in office was Dr. Walter E. Ranger, the 
present Commissioner, who was called to Rhode Island from 
the State Superintendency in Vermont. Thus after 60 years, 
when it had completed in every detail the programme for school 
reform outlined by Henry Barnard, Rhode Island repeated its 
action of 1843, by seeking outside the state an expert public 
educator, trained under and familiar with several state school 
systems. The election of Dr. Ranger emphasized the function 
of the Commissioner of Public Schools as an expert and profes- 
sional adviser. 

A SECOND SURVEY— THE RANGER PLATFORM. 

Commissioner Ranger made no recommendations in his 
earliest annual report, declaring that he must first make him- 
self thoroughly familiar with school conditions in Rhode Island. 
In his second report, in 1906, he recommended: * 

1. Pensions for teachers. 

2. State aid for travelling libraries. 

3. • A state school and home for the feeble-minded. 

4. State certification of superintendents, as of teachers. 

5. A minimum salary law for teachers. 

6. A more practical equalization of educational opportuni- 
ties, to be secured by extension of high school education for all 
the youth of the state, and by skilful supervision. 

*The order assigned by Dr. Ranger was 1, 10, 3, 7, 5, 4, 9, 6, 8, 2. In the text the order 
is rearranged to conform to the order of accomplishment. The figures in the paragraph 
below refer back to the figures in the platform. 



266 PUBLIC . EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

7. Industrial and trade schools. 

8. Improved school sanitation, and sanitary standards. 

9. Reasonable tenure for teachers and superintendents. 
10. , A state summer school for teachers. 

In 1907 the General Assembly enacted (1) a teachers' pension 
law, provided an annual appropriation for (2) travelling libra- 
ries, and authorized the establishment of an (3) institution for 
the feeble-minded, thus undertaking immediately three of the 
reforms suggested by the Commissioner. State (4) certification 
of superintendents of schools was required in 1908, and in 1909 
a (5) teachers' minimum salary law was enacted. In the year 
last named financial aid for high schools was increased, and the 
(6) provision of high schools or high school opportunities was 
made compulsory. The General Assembly, in 1910, ordered 
the Commissioner of Public Schools to make a special investi- 
gation and report on the state's need of industrial, vocational 
and agricultural education, and in 1912 provided an appropria- 
tion for the encouragement and aid of towns providing (7) 
vocational and industrial education.* The same year the 
Board of Education was authorized to approve proper (8) 
standards of heating, lighting, ventilating, seating and other 
sanitary arrangements of schools, and plans for the construction 
of sanitary school buildings, and state aid for medical inspec- 
tion was provided. One year (9) tenure for superintendents 
was extended in 1913 by omission from the law of the provision 
for annual election. Legally the teacher's tenure is still one 
year, but the narrow legal view is far away from the customary 
tenure of teachers. In some towns appointments are designated 
"probationary," "temporary" and "permanent." In some 
salaries are graded according to length of service, and the 
teacher begins her work with the expectation of continuance. 
Custom is building a tenure resembling "tenancy from year to 

♦Textile school at School of Design, 1913. 



EXTENSION AND IMPROVEMENT. 267 

year," which simply goes on, after a period of satisfactory ser- 
vice, practically during "good behavior." No (10) permanent 
summer school for teachers has been established, but the Rhode 
Island Normal School has broadened its advanced and exten- 
sion courses, and in 1912, the Board of Education was author- 
ized to establish post-graduate courses for teacher training in 
Brown University. In 1917, a summer school was conducted 
at Rhode Island Normal School. 

In 1910 the General Assembly made provision for the appoint- 
ment of an Assistant Commissioner of Public Schools, to serve 
under the direction of the Commissioner. William Andrew 
was appointed. His successors in office have been Valentine 
Almy, 1912-1917, and Emerson L. Adams, 1917. The employ- 
ment of children under 13 was forbidden in 1906, and under 14 
after 1906. School age was raised to 14 years in 1909, and in 
1911 employment of children under 16 unable to read at sight 
and write simple English sentences legibly was forbidden. 
The General Assembly in 1913 provided an annual appropria- 
tion, to be apportioned to aiding towns unable, at the average 
rate of taxation throughout the state, to maintain schools of 
high standard. An untold and incalculable improvement of 
rural school conditions has been brought about and will be 
furthered through use of this appropriation, the first state 
school appropriation in which none but rural schools have 
shared. One of the improvements made possible through it is 
the minimum school year of 36 weeks, made law in 1914. The 
General Assembly in 1915 provided financial aid through which 
the system of professional school supervision may be spread 
into every town in the state. 

A REVIEW BY THE BOARD OF EDUCATION. 

"A review of the past record of Rhode Island in education," 
said the Board of Education in a recent report, "gives evidence 
of progress without revolution or radical innovations, but 
reveals steady advancement through a natural development, 



268 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

energized by a progressive public spirit. Our progress has 
been marked by a conservation of past gains as well as by new 
achievements. Improvement and expansion seem to have 
come gradually and steadily, in response to the demands of an 
enlightened public opinion, and, in general, advances in educa- 
tional law and practice have become permanently established 
in public confidence and support. For these reasons, our 
educational system is the product of our social and economic 
experience and a vital part of the civic organization of the state. 

"The protection of life and property is not the sole purpose 
of government. One of its chief functions is to promote the 
common welfare. An intelligent citizenship is the basis of 
public weal. Without education free government cannot 
endure. For these reasons, the proper education of the young 
becomes the most important obligation of the people and the 
highest function of the people's government. No other public 
interest deserves the serious attention of the General Assembly 
more than that of public education. Our educational organiza- 
tion has been established, developed, and is governed by its 
law, and upon its wise and ready action depend future pros- 
perity and progress. The General Assembly has no higher 
duty assigned it by the Constitution of the state, no greater 
opportunity to remedy social evils and improve civic conditions, 
than may be found in its responsibility for public schools. 

"The educational importance of our public schools is recog- 
nized when we appreciate the fact that nearly 90,000 pupils 
are instructed in them by more than 2500 teachers. From an 
economic point of view, our educational organization assumes 
magnitude when we realize that it was maintained during the 
year under review at an expense of more than $3,000,000. In 
other words, in addition to $10,000,000 invested in school 
property, the State of Rhode Island yearly expends for public 
education the equivalent of a four per cent, income of an in- 
vestment of $75,000,000. This may be regarded as an economic 
measure, or value, of the public responsibility with which our 
public educational institutions are endowed. 

"Not long ago the Russell Sage Foundation published the 
results of a comparative study of the public school systems of 
the 48 states. It is instructive to observe what rank we hold 
in certain elements of public education. In the survey Rhode 
Island ranked as 11th in 10 educational features, selected as 
tests of quantity and efficency. She was given a place in the 
first group of states on five tests, in the second group on three 
tests, and in the third and fourth groups on one test each. 
Among all the states, Rhode Island was first in the average 
length of school year (193 days), fourth in the average number 
of school days per child (116 days), fifth in value of school 
property relative to school population ($78 per child), fifth in 



EXTENSION AND IMPROVEMENT. 269 

high school attendance (84 to 1000 in elementary schools), 
and ninth in teachers' salaries, the average annual salary being 
given at $607, which was actually $644 for the year taken for 
the survey, and which has now risen above $670. Only three 
states east of the Rocky Mountains pay higher salaries than 
Rhode Island. They are New York, Massachusetts and 
New Jersey. 

"The high relative position of Rhode Island's educational 
organization among American school systems could not have 
been attained without the achievement of a long series of 
legislative acts, prompted by true foresight and sound judgment, 
and supplemented by genuine vigilance and persistent endeavor 
in educational execution. With few mistakes in legislation 
or administration, our educational record has been one of steady 
advancement and real accomplishments. In comparison with 
other states, our state has distinct advantages in its great com- 
parative wealth, in its economic situation of a concentrated 
population, and in certain definite gains and experience. It 
may attain a higher relative rank, if it does not neglect its very 
means and opportunities of advancement. Persistent effort for 
improvement, both in legislation and administration, cannot 
fail not only to maintain but to raise the relative position of our 
educational system." 

THE CHRONOLOGY OF IMPROVEMENT— 
A SUMMARY. 

1894 Factory inspection. 

Model and training school for Normal School. 

1895 Providence and Brown University co-operate to train 

high school teachers. 

1896 General Assembly asks State Board to recommend 

measures to promote a uniform high standard in 

schools. 
1898 New Normal School building opened. 
State appropriation to aid high schools. 
State appropriation to encourage grading of schools. 
State certification of teachers. 

1900 School census under supervision of school committees. 
School committees to provide flags for schoolhouses. 

1901 School committees to elect truant officers. 



270 EXTENSION AND IMPROVEMENT. 

1902 Compulsory school age raised to 13 years. 

School committees to fix compensation of superintendents. 

1903 State aid for full-time superintendencies. 
Joint superintendencies authorized. 

1904 All remaining school districts abolished. 

School committees may unite to elect joint superin- 
tendent. 

1905 Minimum employment age 13 years. 
Act abolishing districts perfected. 

1906 Procedure for condemning property for schools perfected. 
Commissioner Ranger reports plan for school improve- 
ment. 

1907 Minimum employment age, 14 years. 
State home and school for feeble-minded. 
Teachers' pensions. 

State aid for travelling libraries. 

1908 Instruction for adult blind in their homes. 
State certification for superintendents of schools. 

1909 Towns required to provide high school education. 
Compulsory school age 14 years. 

Teachers' minimum salary law. 

1910 Commissioner to investigate industrial vocational educa- 

tion. 

1911 State aid for medical inspection in public and private 

schools. 
Board of Education to approve standards for sanitation. 

1912 Post-graduate department of education in Brown 

University. 
State aid for industrial vocational education. 

1913 Textile school at School of Design. 
Special assistance for rural schools. 



EXTENSION AND IMPROVEMENT. 271 

1914 Minimum school year 36 weeks. 

State inspector of high schools appointed. Standards 
adopted. 

1915 Provision for expert supervision for all towns. 

School committees have power to consolidate schools 
and provide transportation. (The law previously 
limited the power to schools of less than 12 in average 
attendance.) 

1916 Age and employment certificate law perfected. 

1917 Children must attend school to 16 years unless employed. 
Physical education. 

Dental inspection. 

School committees control repair and equipment of 
school buildings. 

Summer session at Normal School. 

Rhode Island accepted Federal aid for vocational educa- 
tion. 



CHAPTER VII. 



PUBLIC SCHOOL FINANCE. 



Public school finance may mean either financing of public 
schools, or public financing of schools, whether the latter are 
public or private institutions. In this chapter the term is used 
in both senses — to cover state support of education — for the 
state is as truly supporting education when it grants exemption 
from taxes or other privileges as when it appropriates money. 

With the development of civic consciousness and recognition 
that provision for public education is one of the most im- 
portant functions, if not the most essential function, of the 
state, the burden of supporting schools has rested almost uni- 
versally on general taxation. In Rhode Island school revenues 
derived from all other sources are less than one per centum of 
total expenditures of public school money, in contrast with the 
earlier practice, which supplemented revenue derived from 
special sources by general taxation, only when the former proved 
insufficient. Except in 1835, until 1840 the public school money 
distributed by the state was derived from special sources ; from 
1840 to 1859 state school money was in large part derived from 
special sources. 

This chapter will deal first with exemption from taxation as a 
method of aiding schools; secondly, with special sources of 
school revenue, including auction and lottery duties, the United 
States deposit fund, registry and poll taxes, dog licenses, tuition 
and fines, and, thirdly, of the manner in which school money is 
appropriated, apportioned, distributed and expended. In- 
cidentally the correlations between school finance and school 
policy will be pointed out. 



PUBLIC SCHOOL FINANCE. 273 

TAX EXEMPTION. 

Brown University. — The first school legislation enacted by 
the colonial General Assembly was the charter granted in 1764 
to the "trustees and fellows of the college or university in 
the English Colony of- Rhode Island and Providence Planta- 
tions," named Rhode Island College first, and subsequently 
Brown University. The charter provided that "the college 
estate, the estates, persons and families of the president and 
professors, for the time being, lying and being within this 
colony, with the persons of the tutors and students, during their 
residence at the college, shall be freed and exempt from all 
taxes," jury service and military service except in case of in- 
vasion. In 1863 the university consented to an amendment to 
its charter limiting the exemption of the estates, persons and 
families of the president and professors to $10,000 in each 
instance. The charter further provided that "this charter 
shall be construed, reputed and adjudged in all things most 
favorable in the benefit, behoof and for the best benefit and 
behoof of the said trustees and fellows and their successors, so 
as most effectually to answer the valuable ends of this most 
useful institution." The state, through its courts, has given 
full effect to the exemption, by interpreting it in such manner 
as to include not only the land and buildings actually used as 
part of the university plant, but also property held by way of in- 
vestment — even real estate in the business centre of Providence 
rented for general business purposes. Brown University vs. 
Granger, 19 R. I. 704. From assessments for street improve- 
ments under the betterment act, however, the university was 
held to be not exempt. In the matter of College street, 8 R. I. 
474. The endowments of the university exceed $4,500,000, all 
of which, with the land and buildings, are exempt. The value 
of the exemption at current rates of taxation, exceeds $80,000 
annually. 



274 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

General Exemption. — At the February session of the General 
Assembly in 1769 a general law was passed exempting from 
taxation "all lands and other real estate granted or purchased 
for religious uses or for the uses of schools within this colony." 
In the Digests of 1798 and 1822 the language of the statute 
was practically similar: "All estates, real or personal, granted 
or appropriated to religious uses or to the use of schools and 
seminaries of learning within this state . . . are exempted 
from taxation." In 1829 tax exemption was limited to build- 
ings and land actually occupied by buildings owned by incor- 
porated bodies, thus: "So much property as now is or here- 
after may be invested in houses for public religious worship, or in 
houses for schools, academies and colleges established or owned 
by any town, company or corporation, and the land on which 
they stand, together with such other property as now is or 
hereafter may be specially exempted by a charter granted by 
the General Assembly . . . are hereby exempted from 
taxation." Thus the law appeared in the revision of 1844, and 
so it remained until 1855. 

In the general tax law of 1855 tax exemption of land was 
limited to three acres, but in May of the same year the limita- 
tion was removed, and it was enacted that "The land occupied 
by the buildings for schools, academies and colleges shall be 
exempt from taxation so long as the same shall be occupied and 
used for educational purposes, and the limitation of the land so 
occupied and used to a quantity not exceeding three acres, in 
the 18th section of the act to which this is an amendment, is 
hereby repealed: Provided, that this act shall not be so con- 
strued as to exempt from taxation any property that is leased 
to or occupied by persons who pay rent therefor for the use or 
support of any school, academy or college." The same act 
exempted a trust fund under the will of Nicholas Campbell "so 
long as the interest of the same shall be applied to the education 
of indigent children" in Warren. In 1856 a special act ex- 



PUBLIC SCHOOL FINANCE. 275 

empted a legacy under the will of Joseph Smith of Warren, the 
income of which was devoted to paying teachers' salaries. 
Subsequently all special endowments of similar sort were 
exempted by general law. 

In 1857 exemption was made even more liberal by striking out 
the proviso in the act of 1855. Property exempt included 
"houses for schools, academies and colleges and all the appur- 
tenances thereto belonging, owned by any town, company or 
corporation, and the land used in connection therewith, so far 
as the same is held, occupied and used for, and the rent and 
profits thereof applied to . . . educational purposes ; alms- 
houses and public libraries . . . except that almshouse 
estates belonging to the town shall be subject to taxation 
for school purposes in the school districts in which they are 
situated." 

The Acts of 1855. — Had the close restriction of exemption in 
the first act of 1855 been a separate and isolated enactment, 
instead of one feature of a general law regulating taxation, in 
which it was the 18th section — a law that the Providence 
Journal in its summary of legislation at the close of the session 
described as mainly a codification of existing law — one need 
scarcely hesitate to attribute it, as does Stokes, to the country- 
wide bitter sectarian controversy then raging, with the dis- 
tinctly public school, the quasi-public school of the incorporated 
church society partly supported by public school money, and 
the Catholic parochial schools, in some states claimants for public 
school money, constituting a major issue. Though the con- 
nection, in the printed record, between legislation and con- 
temporaneous religious and political conflict is not clear, one 
cannot ignore the opening of two Catholic schools in 1851 and 
another in 1855; the withdrawal of Catholic children from the 
public schools in 1852 and 1853, with its marked effect on 
attendance records ; the compulsory attendance measures that 
failed of passage by the General Assembly in 1853; the charge 



276 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

of the Providence Journal in 1853 that the Democratic party 
planned to divide the public school money betwixt public and 
parochial schools; the voluminous discussion of the sectarian 
school question reprinted at large in the School Reports in 1853 
and 1854; the measure conferring visitorial and inquisitorial 
powers with reference to private schools upon the Commissioner 
of Public Schools, which was indefinitely postponed by the 
House of Representatives in 1855; the alliance of the dominant 
Whig party with the American or Know Nothing party in 1854, 
and the triumph of the Know Nothings in Rhode Island in 1855, 
as elements in the social environment likely to affect public 
action. The first law of 1855 limited the tax exemptions of all 
private schools; the reaction from Know Nothingism to prin- 
ciples of more liberal democracy was assisted by the rallying of 
friends of education, and the critical conflict for and against 
exemption of parochial schools was postponed by the legislation 
of May, 1855, and 1857 for nearly a generation. 

Exemption Becomes a Religious Question. — A parochial school 
was opened in Woonsocket in 1860, an academy and a school in 
Providence in 1867, and four academies in 1872. In 1870 
exemption of property held for religious purposes was limited 
to $20,000. In 1875 the subject of tax exemption was investi- 
gated by a committee of the General Assembly, which held four 
public hearings. For exemption appeared, among others, 
Bishop Hendricken of the Roman Catholic diocese of Provi- 
dence, Bishop Clarke of the Episcopal diocese of Rhode Island, 
and President Robinson of Brown University. Strong oppo- 
sition to exemption of any sort was voiced, and the committee, 
which was hostile to exemption, reported a compromise rec- 
ommendation exempting buildings, but no land. The General 
Assembly rejected the recommendation, but limited the exemp- 
tion of schools to free public schools, and of churches to buildings 
and the land surrounding the same to the extent of not exceeding 
one acre. The law follows : 



PUBLIC SCHOOL FINANCE. 277 

"The following property, and no other, shall be exempt 
from taxation: Buildings for free public schools, buildings 
for religious worship and the land on which they stand and 
immediately surrounding the same to an extent not exceeding 
one acre, so far as said buildings and lands are occupied and 
used exclusively for religious or educational purposes; . . . 
the property, real and personal, held for or by any incorporated 
library society, or any free public library or any free public 
library society, so far as the said property shall be held ex- 
clusively for library purposes ;' . . . any fund given or held 
for the purpose of public education. . . ." Almshouses were 
exempted as in the earlier acts, and the tribal lands of the 
Narragansett Indians were exempt; and with them land held in 
fee by members of the tribe were exempt from taxation for 
school purposes. 

What was the meaning of "free public school " ? The Supreme 
Court, in 1878, held that "free public schools", exempted from 
taxation, meant only the schools which "are established, main- 
tained and regulated under the statute laws of the state." 
Hence realty held by a religious corporation and used by eccle- 
siastics to furnish gratuitious instruction in parochial schools, 
was not relieved from taxation. St. Joseph's Church vs. 
Assessors, 12 R. I. 19. In 1883 the court held that a building 
used for religious purposes is exempt from taxation, although 
used for educational purposes, so long as the use is merely 
incidental or occasional, or so long as the use, if habitual, is 
purely permissive and voluntary and does not interfere with the 
use for religious purposes, there being no alienation of the build- 
ing in whole or in part for educational uses, as, for example, by 
lease. St. Mary's Church vs. Tripp, 14 R. I. 307. 

General Exemption Restored. — In 1894 a general law exempted 
parochial and private schools not conducted for profit, and the 
land surrounding them to an extent not exceeding one acre, so 
far as the same is used exclusively for educational purposes. 
There were at that time 27 schools and academies in the state 
conducted and maintained under Catholic Church auspices. 



278 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

The educational exemptions under the present law are these : 

"Buildings for free public schools; buildings for religious 
worship and the land upon which they stand and immediately 
surrounding the same, so far as said buildings and land are 
occupied and used exclusively for religious or educationl 
purposes,* the buildings and personal estate owned by any 
corporation used for a school, academy or seminary of learning, 
and the land upon which said buildings stand and immediately 
surrounding the same to an extent not exceeding one acre, so 
far as the same is used exclusively for educational purposes, but 
no property or estate whatever shall hereafter be exempt from 
taxation in any case where any part of the income or profits 
thereof or of the business carried on thereon is divided among 
its owners or stockholders; . . . the property, real and 
personal, held for or by any incorporated library, society, or any 
free public library or any free public library society, so far as 
said property shall be held exclusively for library purposes; . 

. . and any fund given or held for the purpose of public 
education." 

The range of the variation of tax exemption of property held 
and used for school purposes may be summarized as follows: 

Land and other real estate, 1769 to 1798. 

All estates, real and personal, 1798 to 1829. 

Buildings and land actually occupied by them, 1829 to 1855. 

Buildings and land not exceeding three acres, 1855. 

Buildings and land actually occupied, but no land held as an 
investment, 1855 to 1857. 

Buildings and land occupied or yielding an income devoted 
exclusively to education, 1857 to 1876. 

No exemption save for free public schools, 1876 to 1894. 

Buildings and land occupied by them, not exceeding one acre, 
of schools not conducted for profit, 1894 . 

Against the reduction of tax revenue which a municipality 
incurs through exempting schools from taxation may be set the 
calculable gain realized through the assumption by private 
institutions of the expense of educating the municipality's 
children, and the incalculable gain arising from an increased 
number of educational institutions and educational agencies. 

*A building used as a dormitory for teachers is not exempt. In re City of Pawtucket, 
24 R. I. 86. 



PUBLIC SCHOOL FINANCE. 279 

It is scarcely beyond the province of a history of public educa- 
tion to point out also that the exemption and truancy laws of 
the state effectually place parochial and private schools, in 
essential matters, under supervision of state and municipal 
school officers. On penalty of forfeiting tax exemption, a by 
no means inconsiderable item in school budgets, these schools 
are open to visit and inspection by state and city or town school 
officers. Attendance at them is accepted in lieu of attendance 
at free public schools only when courses of study and standards 
of instruction are approved by local school committees as sub- 
stantially equivalent to public school standards. 

AUCTION DUTIES AND LOTTERIES. 

The public school act of 1828 set apart for school support all 
money paid into the general treasury by managers of lotteries 
or their agents, and by auctioneers for duties accruing to the 
state. Out of the revenue thus segregated, $10,000 annually 
was to be apportioned for distribution to aid free public schools 
in the several towns, and the surplus, if any, was to be accumu- 
lated as a permanent school fund. The history of the latter in 
detail is told in another chapter. 

Auction Duties. — Auction duties continued to be a part of 
school revenue until 1845, when the Barnard act omitted them. 
Nevertheless, auction duties were included in the estimate of 
misapplication of the permanent school fund made by the com- 
mittee of investigation in 1851, and auction duties were covered 
into the permanent school fund by state treasurers from 1852 
to 1857, although there was, from 1845 to 1857, no law requiring 
this disposition of them. The Revised Statutes of 1857 made 
auction duties thereafter the principal source of increase of the 
permanent school fund. The annual revenue varies from year 
to year, and averages approximately $900 annually. 

Lotteries Forbidden and Revived. — The General Assembly, in 
1732-33, resolved that "whereas, there have been set up within 



280 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

this government certain unlawful games called lotteries, whereby 
unwary people have been led into foolish expense of money, 
which may tend to the great hurt of this government if not 
timely prevented, for remedy thereof," no lottery after April 30, 
1733, shall be drawn. Without repealing its earlier resolution, 
the General Assembly in 1744 authorized a lottery of £15,000 
to build a bridge over the "Wobosset river" in Providence, thus 
opening a century in which lotteries were a most important 
method of funding public, quasi-public and even private under- 
takings. Bridges, roads, streets, churches, courthouses and 
schools were built from the proceeds of lotteries; debtors and 
unfortunate adventurers were relieved; new business enterprises 
were capitalized ; educational institutions were encouraged, and 
the state itself derived an income, first from profit-sharing in 
lotteries, then from taxation of lotteries, and finally from out- 
right sale of franchises to conduct lotteries. The story of 
Rhode Island lotteries has been told by the late John H. Stiness, 
some time Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Rhode Island, 
in "A Century of Lotteries in Rhode Island." The discussion 
here is confined to educational interests, and in that respect is 
somewhat more detailed. 

Lotteries for Education. — The first lottery for an educational 
purpose was granted in 1759, and regranted in 1760, to aid in 
replacing a library destroyed by fire in the Colony House at 
Providence in 1758, with the condition that the library there- 
after should be accessible to members of the General Assembly. 

Other lotteries for educational purposes were granted as 
follows : 

1767. To complete the parsonage of the Baptist Church at 
Warren, because "Dr. Manning hath now under his care several 
pupils to be educated in the liberal arts, who cannot be accom- 
modated in the said house in its present condition." To the 
Acts and Resolves of the General Assembly we are indebted for 
this glimpse of the preparatory school for Rhode Island College, 
afterward located at Providence and called the University 



PUBLIC SCHOOL FINANCE. 281 

Grammar School, which Dr. Manning established preliminary 
to the opening of the college. 

1774. To the inhabitants of East Greenwich, to raise money 
to build a schoolhouse in the town. In 1780 the amount of 
money to be raised was increased, in order to provide for two 
schoolhouses. 

1774. To the committee of the "Baptist or Antipaedobaptist 
Society," to build a meeting house "for the worship of Almighty 
God and holding the public commencements in." Rhode Island 
College had been removed to Providence. Dr. Manning, its 
first President, had become pastor of the First Baptist Church, 
thus early dedicated to use with the university. 

1795. To 36 citizens of Newport, as trustees, to rebuild 
Long Wharf, build a hotel, and apply the rents and profits to the 
maintenance of a public school for the children of Newport. 
Simeon Potter of Swansea thereafter conveyed to the trustees 
his house and two lots of land on Easton's Point for a public 
school. The school was opened in 1814 for poor children, and 
continued until merged into the free school system. The Long 
Wharf Association has built from its profits two public schools 
for Newport. 

1796. To Rhode Island College, "for cogent reasons 
assigned," to raise not exceeding $25,000 for use of the college. 
In connection with this lottery, President Jonathan Maxcy 
issued a special appeal to the friends of the college and patrons 
of literature as follows : "The committee for directing the man- 
agement of Rhode Island College lottery, having received inform- 
ation that a larger number of tickets has been returned than was 
expected, and not having obtained information respecting the sale 
of many sent abroad, and wishing to secure the laudable object of 
the lottery in a more ample manner than present circumstances 
authorize, have suspended the drawing for a short time and 
adopted such measures for the sale of tickets as they judge will 
be effectual and enable them speedily and principally to accom- 
plish the business of the lottery. The friends of the college 
and patrons of literature are requested to favor the corpora- 
tion with their friendly assistance on this occasion." 

1797. To aid Bristol Academy. 

1801. To build an academy at South Kingstown. 
1803. To aid Washington Academy. 

1803. To aid Warren Academy. 

1804. To build a schoolhouse and meeting house near Cory 
pond, East Greenwich. 

1804. To build a schoolhouse and meeting house at Charles- 
town. 



282 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

1805. To finish a meeting house and schoolhouse at Hopkin- 
ton City. 

1805. To aid Frenchtown Seminary. 

1805. To build a schoolhouse at Four Corners, North 
Kingstown. 

1806. To raise $3000 for Redwood Library, Newport. 
1808. To aid an academy in North Providence on Smith- 
field pike. 

1808. To the Smithfield Academy Society. 

1810. To Smithfield Academy. 

1811. To Brown University, to build a house for the steward 
and promote various objects of the institution. 

1812. To the Greene Academy in Smithfield. 

In 1797 counterfeiting lottery tickets was made a crime 
rendering the offender " liable to suffer pains of death, without 
benefit of clergy, with confiscation of all and singular the real 
and personal estate of the offender" for use of the state. In 
1806 a law forbade lotteries not authorized by the General 
Assembly, but this law, intended to bar foreign lotteries, was 
repealed at a later session in the same year. The General 
Assembly received a protest against lotteries in 1813. Venders 
of foreign lottery tickets were required to take out licenses, at 
$100 per annum, by act of 1816, and in 1822 the General Assem- 
bly forbade private lotteries put forth without its consent. 
After a lull of five years, beginning in 1812, the following lot- 
teries for educational purposes were granted: 

1817. To Scituate and Foster Academy. 

1823. To the inhabitants of Old Warwick, to erect houses 
of worship and for the education of youth. 

1825. To Redwood Library, Newport, increasing the amount 
to be raised under the grant of 1806. 

1825. To Newport, for the support of public schools. 

1825. To build a schoolhouse in Richmond. 

1829. To James Stevens, to aid in publishing a map of the 
state. 

1830. To the Rhode Island Historical Society. 

1830. To aid the Providence Bar Library. This library 
was afterward taken over by the state, and formed a nucleus 
for the present Rhode Island Law Library. 



PUBLIC SCHOOL FINANCE. 283 

1837. To the Rhode Island Historical Society, conditional 
upon payment of $4000 to the school fund. This grant was 
cancelled subsequently. 

Lotteries for Revenue. — The colony derived its earliest income 
from a lottery from the profits of a grant to Joseph Fox in 
1748-9 which yielded £406 14s. 8d. The ordinary form of 
early franchise reserved to the colony the profits in excess of a 
specified amount. In 1760 special court procedure was author- 
ized to aid proprietors of lotteries in enforcing collections. The 
lottery legislation included several acts calling upon grantees 
to render accounts, close their accounts and pay over profits, 
and appointing committees to investigate the conduct of par- 
ticular lotteries. This general statement applies with equal 
force to educational and non-educational lotteries. Among the 
educational lotteries that were investigated were those granted 
to Smithfield Academy in 1810 and to Scituate and Foster 
Academy in 1817. Other entries on the records are sufficient 
to warrant suspicion that petitions for charters for academies, 
in some instances, were merely preliminary to petitions to be 
filed subsequently for lottery franchises, and that the seemingly 
quickened interest in higher education in several sections of the 
state was stimulated by and was a cloak for a deeper interest in 
legalized gambling. The foregoing statement is made without 
any intention of imputing base motives to the many sincere 
friends of education who made use of lotteries as the easiest way 
to secure financial assistance for their projects. 

A State Monopoly. — From profit-sharing the state changed its 
policy to taxing lotteries upon the gross amount of sales of 
tickets. In 1830 the lottery tax was raised from one to ten per 
centum. This legislation had the effect of banishing from the 
field of competition all save professional lottery dealers; all 
grants after 1830 were conditioned upon the payment of specific 
amounts into the state treasury. These lotteries were des- 
ignated School Fund Lotteries, because they were granted for 



284 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

the purpose of raising school money, and because their proceeds, 
under the school act of 1828, accrued to the school fund. The 
state itself thus practically monopolized the lottery business. 
Lotteries were drawn by state officers in state offices — to guar- 
anty fair dealing for the purchasers of tickets. Three con- 
cessionaires were found in 1831, two each in 1832 and 1833, at 
$10,000 each. A lottery granted in 1834 for $10,000 was not 
taken by the dealer, but in 1835 a lottery to continue four years 
and yield $10,000 per annum was granted, and in 1839 renewed 
for five years at $9000 per annum. The movement of a century 
thus had reached its climax — and also its culmination. 

Moral Aspects. — Readers who experience difficulty in viewing 
the history of lotteries and education in Rhode Island without 
the prejudice which twentieth century standards of morality 
inevitably arouse, should consider the extent to which morality r 
is relative and moral questions are ultimately social questions. 
Rhode Island was not precociously, or conspicuously, or noto- 
riously bad; the state was the fourth to abolish lotteries. In 
the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries lotteries were sanctioned 
by church and press, while to the names of two early Presidents 
of Brown University already mentioned might be added those 
of Moses Brown, Stephen Hopkins and others, some of them 
the most influential and prominent Rhode Islanders of the period, 
as participants in the management of lotteries conducted for 
the many meritorious purposes disclosed in the grants — educa- 
tional, religious, and for public improvement. To the masses 
speculation in lottery tickets was preferable to paying taxes. 
There were, however, reformers who realized the loathsome 
rottenness of the system and who strove to combat it. Opposed 
to the reformers were the professional dealers, the friends of 
projects benefiting by lotteries, and finally sincere supporters of 
the public school system, who feared that the abolition of 
lotteries and the loss of revenue therefrom might endanger the 
schools. 



PUBLIC SCHOOL FINANCE. 285 

At various times the question of abolishing lotteries was pre- 
sented to the General Assembly, and from time to time legisla- 
tion intended to correct incidental evils was enacted. In May, 
1834, Elisha R. Potter, father of Commissioner Elisha R. 
Potter, moved in the General Assembly that a committee be 
appointed to take into consideration the prevailing lottery 
system and to ascertain what had been done on the subject in 
other states, with a view to the adoption of some measures 
putting an end to the sale of lottery tickets. He declared that 
the purchase of lottery tickets was a species of gambling, and 
that, unwilling as he was to submit to a land tax, yet he would 
pay his proportion of a land tax to supply the funds raised 
by the lottery system, rather than have this system con- 
tinued. The committee was appointed, and reported in June, 
1834, favorable to abolition of lotteries, with a resolution com- 
manding the Attorney General to draft a suitable act. The 
report was laid on the table. On the same day a bill to grant a 
lottery was reported, and likewise laid on the table, but at a 
later date the lottery was granted.* 

In the constitutional convention of 1842 a propostition to 
abolish lotteries was debated. There the most valiant defender 
of the system was Wilkins Updike, who in 1843, made the 
speech and presented the resolution that resulted in the calling 
of Henry Barnard to Rhode Island. His plea was for the 
support of schools. But the financial necessities of the state 
had been relieved since 1834, and the income of the United 
States deposit fund was already furnishing a splendid endow- 
ment for the public school system. The convention was im- 
pressed by the exposure of the evils of lotteries, and submitted 
to the people a constitution that forbade future' lottery grants. 
The General Assembly in 1844 adopted supplementary legisla- 
tion, forbidding the sale of lottery tickets. 

*The General Assembly, in 1840, condemned lotteries. 



286 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

Besides the lotteries granted for specific educational purposes 
lotteries had yielded from 1828 to 1839 an annual income for 
the support of schools averaging $10,000, and enough in excess 
thereof, with the receipts from 1839 to 1844, to insure a per- 
manent school fund of over $100,000. In large part, however, 
the money so easily acquired was diverted from the permanent 
school fund and applied to other purposes of the state. 

THE UNITED STATES DEPOSIT FUND. 

The Federal tariff law of 1833, a compromise measure, pro- 
duced a revenue far in excess of current needs of the Federal 
Government. After the national debt had been paid off, Con- 
gress, by act of June, 1836, voted to distribute the treasury 
surplus over $5,000,000 to the several states as loans, to be 
returned to the treasury of the United States upon demand. 
Three installments were distributed. 

Perception of An Opportunity. — Forecasting the approaching 
session of the General Assembly, the Morning Courier, of which 
William G. Lamed was publisher, suggested in an editorial on 
October 25, 1836, that the income of the deposit money should 
be applied to the support of public schools. The editor esti- 
mated the state's share in the public money at $272,000, "which 
if judiciously invested, will produce at least $16,000 annually, 
which added to the school fund, would in a few years produce an 
income sufficient to maintain free schools in every town in the 
state during the whole year." He advocated the appointment 
of a commission to invest the fund, "who should be judicious 
business men," and continued: "These hints are thrown out 
in the hope that they may meet the eye of some of the members 
of the Assembly, that the subject may be thought of pre- 
paratory to its consideration next week. We do not mean to 
be understood as speaking in the language of dictation, but only 
to call to the reflection of the members a subject upon which 
they will be called to act." 



PUBLIC SCHOOL FINANCE. 287 

The General Assembly, at the October session, 1836, author- 
ized the General Treasurer to receive Rhode Island's allotment 
of the public money. In the House of Representatives 
Thomas Wilson Dorr, representing Providence, a member of the 
committee on education — the first committee on education of 
which there is mention in the Schedules — presented a resolution 
providing that the income from the deposit fund should be 
applied exclusively to the support of public schools. This, 
with another resolution, presented by George Curtis of Provi- 
dence, directing that the public money be deposited in the 
incorporated banks of the state at not less than five per cent, 
interest, were referred to a special committee. Both resolu- 
tions were reported favorably, but there was opposition to both 
in the House. The test vote came upon an amendment offered 
as a substitute for both resolutions, providing for the division 
of the public money amongst the several towns. The amend- 
ment was defeated 35 to 29, and the Curtis-Dorr resolutions 
were adopted unanimously. 

Rhode Island's share in the surplus revenue amounted to 
$382,335.30. The first two installments, $127,445.10 each, 
were deposited in state banks, and of the third installment 
$127,445.03 was deposited, leaving a balance of seven cents in 
the treasury. Though subsequent reports of the commis- 
ioners entrusted with the duty of investing the fund named 
$382,335.30 as the total, the first account of a state treasurer 
with the fund, that of Stephen Cahoone in 1844, carried the 
fund as $382,335.23, an error due probably to neglect of the 
seven-cent balance. The error was repeated in later accounts, 
and was not corrected until 1858. 

A Financial Problem. — Banks found the state account not 
altogether profitable when carried as a deposit at five per cent, 
interest. To provide for reinvestment of money returned by 
the banks, the commission was authorized in 1839 to loan to 
towns money from the fund to be used exclusively for educa- 



288 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

tional purposes, or to invest it in the capital stock of banks. 
Loans to towns were limited to the town's share in the fund as 
determined by the ratio of apportionment of school money. 
In 1841 the law was further modified to permit loans to towns 
for any purpose, on bonds yielding five per cent, interest and 
maturing in not more than five years, or upon thirty days 
notice on the call of the state treasurer. Subsequently, how- 
ever, a return to the law of 1839 was made. Thus the general 
policy of investing the fund at five per cent, interest was main- 
tained, for bank stocks as a rule paid better than five per cent, 
dividends. 

The State Borrows. — In 1840, however, the state inaugurated 
a somewhat different policy, although it still recognized its 
obligation to the Federal Government as a merely temporary 
custodian of the deposit fund. In January, 1840, the General 
Treasurer was authorized to borrow $35,000 from the deposit 
fund, to pay the state's debt to the Globe Bank, the act stipu- 
lating that the loan should be repaid by the state with interest 
at five per cent. For this purpose $29,526.49 was withdrawn. 
In June, 1842, the commissioners were directed to withdraw 
$50,000 from the banks and pay it into the treasury for use of 
the state, "to be refunded as soon as may be, with interest at 
five per cent." In October of the same year a further with- 
drawal of $32,000 was authorized, but only $28,192.72 was 
actually taken, the balance of the $32,000 being made up by 
$3807.28 received from the Federal Government as the state's 
share in the proceeds of sales of public lands. In January, 1843, 
two acts authorized the further withdrawal of $25,000. The 
withdrawals in 1842 and 1843, amounting to $103,192.72, or 
$107,000 if the public land money be included, may be ascribed 
to the expenses incurred in the suppression of Thomas Wilson 
Dorr's movement for constitutional reform, presenting the 
anomaly of use of a fund against him which he had been the 
leading factor in preserving in 1836. In June, 1843, $10,000 



PUBLIC SCHOOL FINANCE. 289 

was drawn from the fund to be applied to the public school 
appropriation, and the commissioners were directed to make 
no more investments of money returned by banks, without 
order from the General Assembly. In June, 1844, $468.75 was 
received from the treasury of the United States as a further 
share in the proceeds of sales of public lands, and was covered 
into the general treasury. 

Recapitulating: The state received $382,335.30 of surplus 
revenue of the United States, liable to recall by the Federal 
Government, and $4276.03 from the sale of public lands. From 
the deposit fund the state borrowed $29,526.49 in 1840, $78,- 
192.72 in 1842 and $35,000 in 1843, a total of $142,719,21, and 
the state was further indebted to the fund seven cents through 
an error in accounting. The public land money was paid 
^directly into the state treasury, through a subterfuge of mar- 
shalling it against the loan authorized in 1842, and without 
subterfuge in 1844. In dealing with surplus revenue and with 
the public land money, Treasurer Cahoone displayed the same 
policy of deliberate disregard of any obligation of the state that 
he showed in his dealings with the permanent school fund. 
It was not until 1858 that the General Assembly in a resolution 
announcing its discovery that the public land money had been 
paid into the general treasury, ordered the $4276.03 added to 
the amount of the deposit fund. At the same time the error 
of seven cents in earlier accounting was rectified, making the 
total amount subject to account $386,611.33. The act of 
1858 was, however, merely an acknowledgment of indebted- 
ness; as a matter of accounting, it increased the state's debt 
to the deposit fund, but no money was transferred by virtue 
of the act, either in 1858 or when, in 1859, the balance of the 
deposit fund was ordered credited to the permanent school fund. 

Subsequent borrowings from the deposit fund were as follows : 
By act of May, 1845, $10,000; by act of January, 1849, author- 
izing the withdrawal of so much as may be necessary to pay the 



290 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

debt due the Bank of North America and the expenses and orders 
of the Assembly, provided that the sum so withdrawn shall not 
exceed $45,000, $41,526.67; in 1858, $32,500. In 1859 the 
state's indebtedness to the fund, including money returned to 
the treasury and not reinvested, and also the public land money 
was $231,070.06. The balance, $155,541.27, was, in 1859, 
ordered credited to the permanent school fund, until such time 
as the Federal Government shall recall it. As a matter of 
fact, all that was credited was the stocks and bonds held. 
Money returned by banks and not reinvested, and the money 
balance in the treasury not part of authorized loans, was re- 
tained in the general treasury. Perhaps the act of January, 
1860, by which the general treasury balance, $11,191.80, was 
ordered transferred to the permanent school fund, was the 
result of an effort to rectify previous dereliction. 

Income of the Fund. — The income from, the deposit fund was 
$1358.35 up to April 30, 1837, and for six fiscal years thereafter 
was $17,676.24 in 1837-8, $18,991.14 in 1838-9, $17,084.27 in 
1839-40, $19,295.99 in 1840-1, $16,306.95 in 1841-2, and 
$12,213.52 in 1842-3, falling thereafter still lower as the prin- 
cipal was diverted into state loans. Under the school act of 
1828, appropriating $10,000 annually for the support of schools, 
and the act of 1836, applying the income of the fund to the 
same purpose, $10,111.54 was apportioned in 1836, $11,390.41 
in 1837, $27,696.76 in 1838. In January, 1839, a revised school 
law fixed the annual appropriation at $25,000, the revenue to 
be applied being the income of the deposit fund, the balance of 
$25,000 to be taken from the general treasury. The same act 
ordered revenue from lotteries and auctions applied, first to 
payment of the state's debt to the school fund, and thereafter 
to the increase of the school fund. The immediate effect of the 
act of 1839 was to reduce the annual school appropriation, 
which under the laws of 1828 and 1836 would have been $28,- 
991.14 in 1840, $27,084.27 in 1841, $29,295.99 in 1842, $26,306.95 



PUBLIC SCHOOL FINANCE. 291 

in 1843 ; but ultimately the effect of the act of 1839 was bene- 
ficial, because it maintained the appropriation at $25,000 in the 
years when the income from the deposit fund, plus $10,000, 
would have fallen below $25,000. 

The state, although promising repayment with interest at 
five per cent., paid neither principal nor interest. As an offset 
to the latter, however, may be placed the annual appropriation, 
maintained at $25,000 under the act of 1845, raised to $35,000 
in 1850, and to $50,000 in 1854, at which figure it remained 
when the deposit fund as a separate account passed from the 
books of the treasurer. With the decreasing return from the 
deposit fund, the burden of supporting public education shifted 
gradually from this special source of revenue to general taxation, 
a desirable change, inasmuch as public responsibility strengthens 
public consciousness, and public consciousness of responsibility 
is an important factor in the support of public education. 

SUPPLEMENTARY SCHOOL REVENUE. 

The remaining sources of special school revenue are of a 
different type from those already discussed. The acts of 1828, 
1836 and 1839 rested the support of public schools upon special 
income, supplementing the special income by general revenue 
only when the former proved insufficient. Registry and poll 
taxes, dog licenses and penalties credited to the school account 
supplement the money appropriated from general revenue. 
Moreover, these taxes are not collected by the state and appor- 
tioned to the towns, but are collected by the towns, and applied 
to school support under the laws which authorize levy and 
collection. 

Towns and cities derive the larger part of money expended 
for the support of public schools from general taxes levied upon 
property and from the apportionment of state appropriations. 
To the money appropriated by the town or city and the money 
apportioned by the state are added, under general laws, revenue 



292 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

derived from poll taxes, the balance of receipts from dog licenses 
after deducting damages paid for injuries inflicted by dogs 
upon sheep, lambs, cattle, horses, hogs and fowl, tuition paid 
by non-resident pupils, income earned by property held in trust 
for public education, and fines levied under the compulsory 
attendance law. 

Registry and Poll Taxes. — Poll taxes were assessed in Rhode 
Island before 1842, but the application of poll taxes to school 
support began with the Constitution adopted in that year, 
which provided: 

"Every male native citizen of the United States . . . whose 
name shall be registered . . . on or before the last day 
of December in the year next preceding the time of his voting, 
and who shall show by legal proof that he has for and within 
the year next preceding the time he shall offer to vote, paid a 
tax or taxes assessed against him in any town or city in this 
state, to the amount of one dollar . . . shall have a right 
to vote. . . . 

"The assessors of each town or city shall annually assess upon 
every person whose name shall be registered a tax of one dollar, 
or such sum as with his other taxes shall amount to one dollar, 
which registry tax shall be paid into the treasury of such town 
or city, and be applied to the support of public schools therein; 
but no compulsory process shall issue for the collection of any 
registry tax. . . ." 

The tax thus levied and applied to school support was known 
as the registry tax. In June, 1844, the General Assembly per- 
fected the law by passing an act providing that town treasurers 
should pay over to school committees for support of public 
schools all money received from the registry tax. 

The registry tax was a purely voluntary tax, payment of 
which was assumed by the citizen who wished to participate in 
elections, as was indicated by the provision which forbade the 
issuing of compulsory process to enforce collection, and by the 
constitutional provision for the first registration, which de- 
scribed the registry tax as a voluntary payment. As a school 



PUBLIC SCHOOL FINANCE. 293 

revenue measure the registry tax was defective for six reasons: 
First, it was assumed voluntarily, instead of being levied upon 
all persons who might become eligible to vote; second, payment 
was voluntary, instead of compulsory; third, the amount of 
revenue derived from it varied with the intensity of public 
interest in political issues and not with the needs of school sup- 
port; fourth, the time of registration and payment, December, 
was too remote from the time of the state election, April, to give 
to the revenue full advantage of an interest in an issue which 
might be developed in the hustings; fifth, only native born 
citizens of the United States were eligible to qualify as electors, 
excluding naturalized citizens; sixth, in consequence of suffrage 
restriction, the potential electorate and the amount of the 
revenue derived from the registry tax did not keep pace with 
the increase of 70 per cent, in population in the 20 years from 
1840 to 1860, recruited largely by immigration from Europe. 

From the viewpoint of scientific politics and school admin- 
istration, combined, the registry tax law as a school measure 
was defective for four reasons: First, it contrasted sharply 
with section 1 of article 9 of the Constitution, which recognized 
a broad public interest in schools by making other than qualified 
electors eligible for election to town school committees; second, 
it excluded from participation in the election of school com- 
mittees a large class of citizens who should have a deep interest 
in free public schools; third, it exempted or excluded from 
taxation for school support all naturalized citizens who were 
not landholders, thus weakening public responsibility; fourth, 
it tended to place control of the public school system in the 
hands of a class of citizens, instead of all citizens. Thus it 
violated that broad and well-defined principle of public school 
administration in a democracy which aims to make the support 
and government of schools a subject of universal responsibility, 
and which in some commonwealths has prompted the granting 
of suffrage privileges to women in the selection of school boards 



294 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

and school officers, and on school questions submitted to the 
referendum. 

The registry tax provision of the Constitution was actually 
neither a revenue nor a school measure. The agitation for its 
modification or repeal, which continued for 46 years from 1842, 
was fostered by practical politicians and political reformers 
rather than by school men. This was, in the first instance, a 
continuation of the long-time political movement culminating 
in the Dorr war, which was only partly satisfied by the reforms 
in the Constitution of 1842. The narrow restriction of suffrage 
rights to landholders and their eldest sons, emphasizing primo- 
geniture, gave way in 1842, but the naturalized citizen of the 
United States was still beyond the pale of suffrage rights in 
Rhode Island, unless he became a landholder. The advocate of 
a broader democracy, call him reformer or demagogue, found an 
issue ready-made for him as the ratio of electors to citizens and 
of electors to population diminished as immigration increased. 
In 1886 "soldiers and sailors of foreign birth, citizens of the 
United States, who served in the army or navy of the United 
States from this state in the late Civil War, and who were 
honorably discharged from such service," were admitted to 
"the right to vote . . . upon the same conditions and 
under and subject to the same restrictions as native born 
citizens." In 1888 an amendment to the Constitution substitu- 
ted the poll tax for the registry tax. The poll tax amendment 
was as follows: 

"Every male citizen . . . whose name shall be registered 
in the town or city where he resides on or before the last day 
of December in the year next preceding the time of his voting, 
shall have a right to vote. . . . 

"The assessors of each town and city shall annually assess 
upon every person who, if registered, would be qualified to 
vote, a tax of one dollar, or such sum as with his other taxes 
shall amount to one dollar, which tax shall be paid into the 
treasury of such town or city and be applied to the support of 
public schools therein." 



PUBLIC SCHOOL FINANCE. 295 

Excluding questions of practical politics, which make the 
time of registration an issue as well as the limited suffrage rights 
of non-property holders, and viewing the poll tax law as a school 
revenue measure, it is superior to the registry tax law, because 
it provides for the assessment of poll taxes upon all citizens 
eligible to become electors, but its effectiveness is determined 
largely by the strictness or laxness that attends collection of the 
tax. Moreover, there is an apparent conflict in the statutes 
that supplement the constitutional provision, it being provided 
in one place that the poll taxes assessed shall be applied to the 
support of public schools, and in another that town treasurers 
shall credit to the school account only the amount of the tax 
collected. 

In 1914 the General Assembly authorized the assessing of poll 
taxes against resident male aliens, the poll tax thus covering all 
male residents, 21 years of age and older, except taxpayers whose 
other taxes amount to one dollar annually, and except citizens 
of other states less than two years in residence. The law 
follows : 

"The assessors of taxes of each town and city shall, at the 
time of the annual assessment of town and city taxes therein, 
respectively, assess against every person in said town or city 
who, if registered, would be qualified to vote, a tax of one dollar, 
or so much thereof as with other taxes shall amount to one 
dollar; and shall also assess a tax of like amount, to be applied 
to the same purpose, against every other male person of the 
age of 21 years or over who is not a citizen of the United States, 
who has had his residence in said town or city for six months 
next preceding such assessment." 

Dog Licenses. — Revenue derived from licensing dogs was 
ordered applied to the support of public schools, after deducting 
damages paid for injuries inflicted by dogs on domestic animals, 
by act of January, 1869. In 1875 an amendment to the statute 
authorized towns to set aside the balance as a damage fund, 
instead of applying it to school support. As a school revenue 
measure the law favors city schools. There are in cities and 



296 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

compactly settled towns few sheep, lambs, cattle, horses, pigs 
and fowl likely to injury by dogs. In the city of Providence the 
dog license law yields a net revenue in excess of $10,000 an- 
nually, which is transferred to the school budget. 

Tuition. — In the schools established in Providence under the 
school act of 1800 and maintained in spite of its repeal, tuition 
was free, but pupils were assessed for fuel, until 1833, and were 
required to furnish ink for writing. The school law of 1828 
omitted the word free as used in the act of 1800, and appro- 
priated $10,000 annually "to and for the exclusive purpose of 
keeping public schools." Under this law, town school com- 
mittees maintained such public schools and for such periods 
as the school money available warranted. A committee of 
Providence citizens which in 1831 investigated the operation 
of the law of 1828 reported thus: "In nearly every country 
town private schools correspond very nearly, both in number 
and scholars, with the public schools; they may be considered 
as the public schools continued by individual subscription from 
three to six months each." The committee estimated the 
average time of schools, other than twenty which were con- 
tinued through the year, as three months. 

The law of 1839, appropriating $25,000 annually "for the 
purpose of maintaining public schools," directed that the money 
should be "applied to pay for instruction, and not for room 
rent, fuel or for any other purpose." By subsequent act in the 
same year school committees were authorized to assess an 
amount sufficient to pay for fuel, rent and other incidental 
expenses, if these were not provided by the town, upon those 
who sent scholars to the schools. This was an important meas- 
ure in so far as it enabled school committees to conduct schools 
where towns gave no aid, but it fastened the rate bill upon the 
Rhode Island school system. Parents or guardians too poor 
to pay were exempted. 



PUBLIC SCHOOL FINANCE. 297 

The Barnard school law of 1845 authorized school districts to 
fix a rate of tuition to be paid by the parent, guardian or em- 
ployer of each child attending school, toward the expenses of 
fuel, books and estimated expense, but not exceeding one dollar 
per pupil for each three months. No child could be excluded 
from school, however, on account of the inability of the parent, 
guardian or employer of the child to pay the tax, rate or assess- 
ment levied for school purposes. 

Rate bills were abolished in 1868 and all the public schools of 
the state became free public schools. 

School trustees under the district law, and school committees 
were authorized to receive and admit non-resident pupils, 
charging them tuition, which must be applied to school pur- 
poses. In 1839 school committees were authorized to provide 
for the attendance of town children at schools in other towns, 
if more convenient and expedient, and to pay tuition for such 
children, the town receiving tuition being obliged to use it 
exclusively for school support. In 1898 a statute providing 
special aid for town high schools, authorized town school com- 
mittees to send town children to approved high schools or 
academies in other towns and pay tuition for them, and in 1909 
towns were required to establish high schools or send pupils 
fitted for high school to approved high schools or academies in 
other towns. Towns maintaining high schools are required by 
law to receive pupils from other towns at cost, under penalty of 
forfeiting state aid. All tuition received must be applied to 
school purposes. The cities and larger towns profit most from 
tuition payments. 

Fines. — Under the truancy law, fines assessed for failure to 
send children to school accrue to the town for the support of 
schools. The revenue from this source is small. 

School Funds— Several towns derive a portion of school 
revenue from invested funds. 



298 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

THE APPORTIONMENT OF PUBLIC SCHOOL 
MONEY. 

Passing from revenue to apportionment, the theory and policy 
of public school support and their development appear clearly in 
the series of acts providing state aid for public schools. The 
theory and policy varied in Rhode Island from time to time, 
but the variation was progressive, and was continuously and 
always in one direction — toward a state system of free public 
schools supported in the main by general public taxation. 
While it is, perhaps, an anachronism to describe the public 
schools of Rhode Island as a state system until, in 1882, the 
school law was made mandatory, a clear presentation is facili- 
tated by treating the town and district schools as a state system 
in process of development prior to 1882. State control was 
fostered by extending state support and by prescribing condi- 
tions precedent to receiving state support, and state control was 
perfected by statutory enactment when at last the people had 
been educated to it — when a public consciousness had been 
created and was aroused by a court decision that towns were 
not required by law to maintain free public schools — when 
civic experience had prepared for fruition. 

The Act of 1800. — Upon the petition of the Providence Asso- 
ciation of Mechanics and Manufacturers, presented in 1799, the 
General Assembly, in 1800, enacted a general school law, the 
financial provisions of which were as follows: 

Sec. 4. And be it further Enacted: That for the encourage- 
ment of institutions so useful there shall be allowed and paid 
to the town treasurer of each town or his order, out of the 
general treasury at the end of every year, computing from the 
first of October next, twenty per cent, of the amount of the 
state taxes of that year paid into the general treasury by said 
town, provided the said sum or allowance of twenty per cent, 
shall not exceed in the whole the sum of $6000 in any one year. 
And the town making application to the General Treasurer 
for said allowance shall exhibit and deliver to him a certificate 



PUBLIC SCHOOL FINANCE. 299 

signed by the town council, town treasurer and schoolmaster 
or schoolmasters of said town, that a school or schools have 
been established and kept in said town according to the pro- 
visions of this act, and specify the number of schools and the 
term for which each school shall have been kept. 

Sec. 5. And be it further Enacted: That the allowances 
aforesaid when paid to the town treasurer shall be and remain 
exclusively appropriated to the establishment and support of 
free schools, and shall be paid out under the order of the several 
town councils and be by them applied accordingly. 

Section 6 provided for forfeiture of the town's right to the 
tax rebate upon failure to keep schools, and section 7 for an 
annual report to the General Assembly by the General Treasurer. 

Sec. 8. And be it further Enacted: That if any school 
district in any town shall think fit to keep a school in said dis- 
trict for a longer time than the town shall provide for the 
same, or to erect a schoolhouse, or to enlarge, ornament or 
repair any already erected, it shall be and may be lawful for 
any seven freemen of said school district to make application 
to any justice of the peace in the town for a warrant for calling 
a meeting of the freemen of said district; and the said justice 
shall thereupon grant such warrant, directed to the town ser- 
geant and constables of said town, to warn the freemen of 
said district to assemble at a proper time and place, to be 
prescribed in said warrant, to take into consideration the sub- 
ject therein mentioned; and the said warrant being first served 
in the manner in which warrants for calling town meetings are 
served in said town, the freemen of said district, any seven of 
whom shall be a quorum, shall and may assemble and appoint a 
clerk, treasurer, collector and such other officers and committees 
as occasion may require, and order and assess such taxes on the 
inhabitants of said district, to be assessed in the proportion 
of the last town tax, as thej may think necessary for the purpose 
aforesaid, which tax shall be collected by warrant from the 
clerk of said school district directed to the district collector, and 
shall be levied and collected in the same manner and under 
the same laws and regulations as town taxes, and shall be 
appropriated to the uses aforesaid, according to the vote and 
order of the said school district meeting; and the freemen of 
said district, assembled as aforesaid, shall and may make such 
other lawful orders and regulations relative to the continuance 
and support of their district school as to them may appear 
useful; and that any other meeting of such freemen shall and 
may be called by the clerk by warrant on request of any seven 
of said freemen, and the meeting so called shall and may have 
and exercise the powers and privileges aforesaid. 



300 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

The act of 1800 died almost in the borning. In 1801 the 
operation of vital sections was suspended, and in 1803 the act 
was repealed. Curiously, neither the act itself nor the record 
of its repeal was printed in the Schedules. Henry Barnard, 
in his "History of the Rhode Island School Law," attributed 
the failure of the act to the want of an agent to explain its pro- 
visions. The eighth section, giving large powers to seven 
freemen, constituting a legal quorum, was objectionable, and 
is, perhaps, a sufficient explanation of the serious opposition 
to the law which speedily developed. Taxpayers who might 
interpose no obstacle to the operation of a law intended merely 
to provide aid for free public schools, realized how easily a 
comparatively small body of freemen, legally assembled, could 
commit a district to an extensive educational programme. 
There is no record of a payment of money from the state treasury 
in accordance with the provisions of the act. Although other 
towns considered the establishment of schools, Providence was 
the only town that actually carried the act into effect, and the 
public schools in Providence were maintained in spite of the 
repeal of the act. 

The basis of apportionment was taxation. Twenty per cent, 
of the ordinary levy of the period, $20,000, would have yielded 
$4000 annually for distribution. Perhaps the freemen foresaw 
that besides possibly increased town taxation, increased state 
taxation might be necessary to meet the needs of the state if 
support of schools were undertaken. If the net state revenue 
were to be maintained at $20,000, the annual levy must be 
raised to $25,000; the 20 per cent, rebate would then carry 
$5000 back to the towns. To produce $6000 for distribution, 
the state tax must be raised to $30,000. 

The Rhode Island act of 1800 contrasts sharply with the early 
Massachusetts and Connecticut acts requiring towns to main- 
tain schools, in that it provided state aid. Of this aspect of the 



PUBLIC SCHOOL FINANCE. 301 

act the report of the committee of the General Assembly to 
which the petition for free schools was referred, said: 

"The committee have attempted to insure the compliance 
of the towns with the requirements of the law by the encourage- 
ment of bounties, and not by the penalty of fines. Rewards, 
in their opinion, will be far more effectual than punishments. 
We all know and regret the facility with which the penalties 
of law are evaded. The only objection to bounties is the danger 
of fraud. The committee are of the opinion that the guards 
and checks of the bill are adequate to the prevention of that 
evil. They have made it the interest of every town to comply 
with the act, and yet the temptation held out to their self- 
interest is drawn from the funds of the town itself. The ex- 
pense is to fall on the individual towns, and the general treasury 
will not be ultimately impoverished. The revenues necessary 
for the support of a system of free and general education will 
not probably exceed in amount the sums now paid by the 
citizens for the support of the partial institution of private 
schools. The burden will, in the proposed plan, be more equally 
laid, and its good effects more generally enjoyed; but the aggre- 
gate expense will not, in the opinion of the committee, be sensibly 
increased. 

"Were it submitted to the towns to establish free schools with- 
out the certainty of loss in the event of non-compliance, even 
though that non-compliance should subject them to criminal 
prosecution, we should find but a tardy and unwilling obedience 
to the law, and, instead of the satisfaction which the Assembly 
may derive from the complete establishment of a general sys- 
tem of education, they must submit to the unavailing regret 
that their benevolent intentions have been misconstrued, dis- 
regarded and defeated." 

Vain hope ! In spite of the fact that the "benevolent inten- 
tions" of the General Assembly were "misconstrued, disre- 
garded and defeated, " as proved by the speedy repeal of the law, 
the act of 1800 and the committee report are worthy of study, for 
some of the general principles set forth were subsequently 
carried into Rhode Island school legislation. It was clearly 
pointed out that a general system of education for all could be 
maintained at the cost of private education for a few — -a per- 
tinent reason for the socialization of education. And, further, 
the principle of attractive legislation was applied. Almost 
without exception, Rhode Island school legislation has been 



302 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

attractive — to the extent that compliance with it earned a 
bounty. By such legislation the state has educated the people 
to the needs of education, not by abstraction, but by actual 
experience fostered by the state, and by enjoyment of the 
benefits of progress while a part of the burden of cost has been 
carried by the state. Since the unfortunate repeal of the law 
of 1800, no advance movement undertaken in Rhode Island 
schools has failed of accomplishment. The policy of the state 
has been to aid a beginning, nourish a growth and trust to the 
people to maintain what from use had changed from a luxury 
or fad to a recognized necessity. 

The Act of 1828. — State support of public schools began with 
the school act of 1828, the financial provisions of which follow: 

Sec. 1. Be it Enacted by the General Assembly, and by 
the Authority thereof it is Enacted: That from and after the 
passing of this act, all money that shall be paid into the general 
treasury by managers of lotteries or their agents, also all money 
that shall be paid into said treasury by auctioneers for duties 
accruing to the state, shall be set apart and paid over to the 
several towns in this state in manner hereinafter mentioned, 
in proportion to their respective population under the age of 
16 years (changed to 15 in 1831), as exhibited by the census 
provided by law to be taken from time to time under the 
authority of the United States, always adopting for the ratio 
the census next preceding the time of paying out each annual 
appropriation of said money as herein provided, to be by said 
towns appropriated to and for the exclusive purpose of keeping 
public schools, and paying the expenses thereof, the sum, 
however, hereby appropriated to be paid in any one year not 
to exceed $10,000. 

Section 2 empowered towns to raise not exceeding double 
the amount of the state appropriation by tax levied by order 
of the freemen, but towns were not required to raise any money 
to be added to the state appropriation. 

Subsequent sections provided for the payment of any excess 
of the specific revenue set aside over $10,000 appropriated for 
school support into a permanent school fund, and that" whenever 
in any year the amount received as aforesaid from lotteries 
and auctioneers shall fall short of the sum of $10,000 annually 
to be distributed, the dividends and interest only of said 
(permanent) fund then accrued, or so much thereof as 



PUBLIC SCHOOL FINANCE. 303 

shall be necessary, shall be added to the last named sum, 
and paid over and distributed according to the provisions of 
this act," and further that "whenever in any year the money 
paid into the treasury from the sources provided by this act 
shall fall short of said sum of $10,000, the deficiency for said 
year shall be made good from any money in the treasury not 
otherwise appropriated." 

The act of 1828 assured an annual appropriation of $10,000 for 
aid of public schools, to be maintained by the several towns. 
The radical departures in financial policy from the act of 1800 
were in the nature of the revenue set aside for education and 
in the basis of apportionment. For wealth or taxation, popu- 
lation was substituted in the latter instance, with an approxi- 
mation as near to school population as the age statistics of the 
United States census permitted. The modern state census 
began in Rhode Island only in 1865, and there was no annual 
school census until 1879. The United States census of 183*0 
reported age statistics in five-year periods beginning with the 
quinquennial and decennial years; that is, under 5, from 5 to 9, 
from 10 to 14, from 15 to 19 years. In 1831 the school law was 
modified accordingly, the basis of apportionment becoming 
population under 15. When it was found that the same census 
reported age statistics of free colored people under 10, and then 
only from 10 to 24, the law was amended again, basing the ratio 
of distribution upon white population under 15, plus colored 
population under 10, plus five-fourteenths of colored population 
between ages 10 and 24.* There was no change in the principle 
of apportionment. 

Neither the law of 1836, appropriating the income of the 
United States deposit fund to school support, nor the act of 
1839, fixing the annual school appropriation at $25,000, changed 
the basis of apportionment, nor required the towns to supple- 
ment the state appropriation, but the act of 1839, by limiting 
the use of state school money to expenditure for instruction, 

♦This was obviously merely an expedient for reducing colored population to approxi- 
mately the same basis as white population. 



304 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

transferred to other sources the burden of providing money for 
fuel, rent and other incidental school expenses. This was, in 
fact and in law, the beginning of application of the principle 
that state school money should not be used to enrich the towns. 
Provision and maintenance of schoolhouses ultimately became 
a town function. The town in providing schoolhouses merely 
acquires property ; to permit it to spend state school money for 
this purpose would enrich the town and defeat the purpose of 
the state in fostering public education. Under the district sys- 
tem the same principle was applied with reference to town school 
money, which, when apportioned to a district, could not be 
used in providing a schoolhouse. To enable school committees 
to conduct schools when towns made no provision for fuel, rent 
and incidental expenses, rate bills were authorized in 1839, but 
were abolished in 1868. 

State Appropriations, to 1840. — The amount of state aid dis- 
tributed annually to the several towns under the acts of 1828 
and 1839, and the amounts raised in addition thereto by the 
towns in 1839 and 1840 are set forth in the following table: 



PUBLIC SCHOOL FINANCE. 



305 





State appropriations. 


Town appropriations. 




1828 


1839 


1839 


1840 


Barrington 


$75.56 

380.63 
286.04 
134.33 
408.75 
260.75 
314.73 
181.79 
323.82 
394.83 
329.78 
229.80 
50.22 
177.82 
188.33 
119.87 
767.50 
378.92 
117.41 
286.80 
205.94 
1252.09 
194.85 
359.60 
583.72 
485.16 
370.69 
209.06 
428.35 
254.79 
247.98 


$160.31 
790.62 
644.70 
359.00 

1059.20 
680.33 
970.83 
389.15 
685.80 
821 . 45 
690.60 
481.65 
80.15 
604.95 
359.00 
252.80 

1739.52 
827.62 
359.00 
864.62 
440.53 

3818.20 
413.80 

1048.92 

1738.85 

1042.75 
787.90 
403 . 52 

1454.50 
499.45 
530.28 


$93.75 

300.00 


$130 70 


Bristol 


847 00 


Burrillville 


300 00 


Charlestown 




Coventry 






Cranston 


500.00 
500.00 


500 00 


Cumberland 


500 00 


East Greenwich 




Exeter 






Foster 






Glocester 


627.34 


627 34 


Hopkinton 




Jamestown 






Johnston 


350.00 


350 00 


Little Compton 




Middletown 






Newport 


800.00 


800 00 


North Kingstown 




New Shoreham 


84.00 
260.00 


78 50 


North Providence 

Portsmouth 


500.00 


Providence 


7000.00 


7000 00 


Richmond 




Scituate 


300.00 
1000.00 


300 00 


Smithfield 

South Kingstown 


1000.00 


Tiverton 




295 00 


Warren 

Warwick 

Westerly 


360.00 
400.00 


360.00 
500.00 


West Greenwich 












Totals 


$10,000.00 


$25,000.00 


$12,575.09 


$14,088.54 



A committee of citizens of Providence in 1831* reported 323 
public schools in the state and 17,034 pupils attending them. 
The whole amount appropriated by towns to supplement the 



♦Oliver Angell's Report. See Chapter III. 



306 



PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 



state appropriation of $10,000 was reported as $11,490. In 
1837 nineteen towns reported to the General Assembly 12,350 
pupils. Barrington, Charlestown, Exeter, Johnston, Little 
Compton, New Shoreham, North Providence, Richmond, 
Scituate, South Kingstown, Tiverton and West Greenwich were 
not included. 

Complete returns for the whole state are set forth in the 
following table, which shows the number of pupils, male, female 
and total; expenditures for fuel, rent and incidentals; cost of 
instruction; total expenditures; state appropriations and town 
expenditures, from 1839 to 1845. The figures were compiled 
from town reports to the Secretary of State. 





1839 


1840 


1841 


1842 


1843 


1844 


1845 


Male pupils. . 
Female pupils. 


8112 
5636 


10,202 
7550 


11,253 
9000 


12,479 
9372 


11,960 
8132 


11,811 
10,345 


11,386 
9710 


Total pupils 

Expenditures : 
Fuel, rent, etc. 
Instruction. . . 


13,748 

$2972 
32,383 


17,752 

$4104 
36,096 


20,253 

$6313 
40,516 


21,851 

$5482 
39,088 


20,092 

$5899 
42,944 


22,156 

$5405 
48,336 


20,096 

$5165 
48,444 


Total exp . . 
State appro. . . 


$35,355 
25,000 


$40,200 
25,000 


$46,829 
25,000 


$44,570 
25,000 


$48,843 
25,000 


$53,741 
25,000 


$53,609 
25,000 


Town exp .... 


$10,355 


$15,200 


$21,829 


$19,570 


$23,843' $28,741 


$28,609 



Obviously, in the towns, a transforming process was in 
operation, evidenced by the rapid growth of town expenditures 
for education. The towns were almost ready, in 1845, for the 
next change in the basis of apportionment. 

The Law of 1845. — The Barnard act of 1845 made no change 
in the amount of the state's annual appropriation of $25,000, 
but if the public schools of that period may be viewed as a state 
system in the process of organization, it did change the basis of 



PUBLIC SCHOOL FINANCE. 307 

apportionment of school money. The Barnard act required 
towns to raise by taxation at least one-third the amount received 
from the state. Viewing the towns as agents of the state for the 
collection and disbursement of the minimum town tax for school 
support, the state-town school money becomes $33,333.33 — to 
be apportioned $25,000 on the basis of population under 15, 
and $8333.33 on the basis of taxable wealth. That is, the towns 
were taxed, or ordered to tax themselves, $8333.33 for the sup- 
port of schools, but each was permitted to retain for support, 
of its own schools the amount collected in the town. Henry 
Barnard, in his report of a draft of the law to the General 
Assembly, advocated a compulsory minimum town tax equal 
to the amount of the state appropriation. This, as the table 
above shows, would have been less for the whole state than the 
towns were appropriating without compulsion in 1845, but one- 
third the amount of the state school money was more than 
some of the towns were appropriating. Enforcement of the 
minimum town tax law was difficult; recourse to the penalty 
of withholding state school money was had in some instances; 
in 1848 the General Assembly passed a general law, ordering the 
transfer to the permanent school fund of the share of any town 
which forfeited its school money by failure to appropriate its 
quota.* 

In 1850-1851 the House and Senate could not agree on a meas 
ure to raise the minimum town school tax to one-half the state 
appropriation, the Senate finally prevailing and the tax remain- 
ing unchanged. Hence the general school law of 1851 did not 
change the basis of apportionment, although Commissioner 
Potter in an earlier report to the General Assembly had recom- 
mended that in the revised school law apportionment should 
be readjusted in such manner as to render greater aid to school 
districts in which the population was scattered and the taxable 
wealth small. No change'was made until three years later. 

♦Forfeitures still go to the permanent school fund. 



308 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

Meanwhile the general tax law of 1849 provided an additional 
annual appropriation of $10,000 for schools, apportioned on the 
same basis as the $25,000 appropriated by earlier acts. Pay- 
ment of $35,000 annually began in 1850. 

Increased Appropriations. — In 1854 the annual state appro- 
priation was increased to $50,000, $35,000 to be apportioned 
on the basis of population under 15 years and $15,000 in pro- 
portion to the number of school districts in each town. It was 
further provided that town school committees in apportioning 
the town's share in the $15,000 should divide it equally amongst 
the districts. 

Every town in the state benefited from the increased appro- 
priation, but the larger share in the $15,000 fell to towns having 
the largest number of districts. The following table shows for 
each town the average annual cost per pupil; the amounts dis- 
tributed to the several towns in the apportionment of the 
$35,000 and the $15,000; in the last column, the total amounts 
available for school support in each of the several towns, in- 
cluding state and town appropriations, registry taxes and other 
income. The fourth column shows the amount which each 
town would receive from the $15,000 if the apportionment were 
based on population under 15 years. A comparison of the third 
and fourth columns will show the effect of the change from 
population to school district as the basis of apportionment. 
The figures selected are those of the first apportionment under 
the act of 1854. 



PUBLIC SCHOOL FINANCE. 



309 



Cost 

per 

pupil. 



State appropriation. 



$35,000. 



On old 
basis 



$15,000. 



Total 
appropria- 
tion. 



Barrington 

Bristol 

Burrillville 

Charlestown 

Coventry 

Cranston 

Cumberland 

East Greenwich . . 

Exeter 

Foster 

Glocester 

Hopkinton 

Jamestown 

Johnston 

Little Compton . . 

Middletown 

Newport 

New Shoreham. . . 
North Kingstown . 
North Providence . 

Portsmouth 

Providence 

Richmond 

Scituate 

Smithfield 

South Kingstown. . 

Tiverton 

Warren 

Warwick 

West Greenwich . . 
Westerly 



$1080.86 
148.45 
865 . 86 
247.18 
841.08 

1115.96 

1578.87 
544 . 82 
432 . 50 
475.35 
623 . 80 
655.24 
67.28 
752.51 
356.87 
189.41 

2122.23 
369.31 
711.56 

1857.50 
449.02 

9716.05 
418.30 

1026.74 

2759.19 

961 . 69 
1302.44 

583.31 
1755.86 

324 . 70 
663 . 29 



Total public school money, 
state and town 



$157.04 
117.78 
628.16 
274 . 82 
706 . 68 
431.86 
785.20 
196.30 
471.12 
745.94 
588.90 
471.12 
78.52 
510.38 
392.60 
196.30 
196.30 
196.30 
588.90 
392.60 
274.82 
863 . 72 
510.38 
706 . 68 

1374.10 
824.46 
667 . 42 
117.78 
588.90 
471.12 
471.12 



$463.22 
63 . 62 
372.51 
105.93 
360.46 
478.27 
676.66 
233.50 
185.34 
203 . 72 
267 . 34 
266.73 
25.73 
322.59 
152.94 
81.17 
909.52 
158.27 
304 . 95 
796.07 
192.72 

4164.02 
179 . 27 
440.03 

1196.80 
412.16 
558.19 
278 . 56 
752.51 
139.62 
274 . 27 



$6435.03 
631.13 
2626.58 
1040.86 
2282.20 
4749.39 
7576.07 
1314.21 
1419.32 
1892.62 
2821.09 
2214.94 
275.93 
2161.95 
1953.07 
1154.71 
9229 . 28 
885.79 
3075.93 
6330.89 
2115.23 
43,336.36 
1318.70 
3773.20 
9277 . 85 
2974.42 
5084.17 
2582.28 
4023 . 66 
1396.97 
2643 . 25 



$138,613 04 



Effect of Density of Population. — The figures in the first 
column of the table, giving annual cost per pupil, must be 
accepted with the caution that the length of the school year 
varied in the several towns, and that the basis of computation 
was not uniform with respect to including or excluding rate 
bills in estimates. In 11 towns the per capita cost was less 
than $5, and in 11 towns the per capita cost exceeded 
$7. Arranged in the order of cost per pupil, from highest to 



310 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

lowest, the list of towns reads: 1, Newport; 2, Middletown; 
3, Little Compton; 4, Barrington; 5, Portsmouth; 6, Provi- 
dence; 7, Glocester; 8, Warren; 9, Bristol; 10, Cumberland; 
11, Cranston; 12, Jamestown; 13, Tiverton; 14, Exeter; 15, 
Scituate; 16, North Kingstown; 17, Hopkinton; 18, Smith- 
field; 19, Westerly; 20, Richmond; 21, North Providence; 22, 
New Shoreham; 23, West Greenwich; 24, South Kingstown; 
25, Johnston; 26, Foster; 27, Burrillville ; 28, Warwick; 29, 
Coventry; 30, East Greenwich; 31, Charlestown. One striking 
characteristic of this arrangement is that the eastern towns 
occupy 11 of the first 13 places, Glocester and Cranston being 
the only towns west of a line drawn through Narragansett bay 
and the Providence and Moshassuck rivers holding high 
positions. 

Arranged in the order of population under 15, from greatest 
to least, the list of towns follows: 1, Providence; 2, Smithfield; 
3, Newport; 4, North Providence; 5, Warwick; 6, Cumber- 
land; 7, Tiverton; 8, Cranston; 9, Barrington; 10, Scituate; 
11, South Kingstown; 12, Burrillville; 13, Coventry; 14, 
Johnston; 15, North Kingstown; 16, Westerly; 17, Hopkinton; 
18, Glocester; 19, Warren; 20, East Greenwich; 21, Foster; 
22, Portsmouth; 23, Exeter; 24, Richmond; 25, New Shore- 
ham; 26, Little Compton; 27, West Greenwich; 28, Midde- 
town; 29, Charlestown; 30, Bristol; 31, Jamestown. 

Placed side by side, the two lists of towns show little correla- 
tion between the number of inhabitants and cost per pupil; 
density of population is plainly, therefore, a more likely index 
of per capita cost than is the number to be educated. The 
eastern towns were, and still are, more closely populated than 
the western towns. Lest the population rating be questioned, 
it should be remembered that in 1855 Tiverton included Fall 
River; Cumberland included part of Woonsocket; North 
Providence included a portion of what is now Providence, 
besides so much of Pawtucket as lies west of the Seekonk and 



PUBLIC SCHOOL FINANCE. 311 

Blackstone rivers; Smithfield included North Smithfield, Lin- 
coln, Central Falls and part of Woonsocket, and Warwick 
included West Warwick. 

The last column of the table is of genuine interest in that it 
indicates the progress which popular support of public education 
had made in a quarter of a century from 1829, when Rhode 
Island as a state made its first apportionment of $10,000 for the 
support of schools. In 1831 the total expenditure for public 
school support by both state and the towns was estimated at 
less than $22,000; it was more than six times as great in 1855. 
The total expenditure in 1855 was more than three times as 
great as the expenditure in 1840, and it was two and one-half 
times as great as it had been in 1845. 

A Change in Policy. — The main purpose of the table, however 
is to show, and the most significant fact which it presents is, 
the change in the policy of apportionment produced by the act of 
1854. The change appears in a comparison of the third and 
fourth columns of the table. The third column shows the 
actual apportionment of the additional appropriation provided 
by the law of 1854 at $39.26 per district for each of the 382 school 
districts in the state ; the fourth column shows the amount of 
each town's share in the $15,000 had the money been appor- 
tioned on the old basis of population under 15 years. Eight 
towns received less by the new than by the old plan of appor- 
tionment; 23 towns profited by the new ratio. The eight towns 
receiving less were Providence, Newport, North Providence, 
Barrington, Cranston, East Greenwich, Warren and Warwick. 
Of the eight towns Providence was first, Newport second, North 
Providence fourth, Warwick fifth, Cranston eighth, and Bar- 
rington ninth in population; that is, six of largest ten towns 
received less. Smithfield, with 35 districts; Cumberland, with 
20; Scituate, with 18, and Tiverton, with 17, escaped decrease 
by sheer weight of the number of their districts. In Provi- 
dence, Warren, Bristol and Newport, there were no districts, 



312 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

strictly speaking; the division in these towns was calculated on 
the basis of schoolhouses. 

The law of 1854 introduced a third principle of apportionment 
in Rhode Island — that of equal participation by the unit of 
school organization. This principle, under the district organi- 
zation, favored the towns smaller in population. The General 
Assembly thus attempted to aid especially the weaker towns. 
The three bases of apportionment in force in 1855 were: Popu- 
lation under 15, taxable wealth, and the school district as a unit. 

A fourth method of apportionment made its appearance in the 
Revised Statutes of 1857, which provided for the apportionment 
of the state's annual appropriation of $50,000 to the towns, 
$35,000 on the basis of population under 15 and $15,000 in pro- 
portion to the number of school districts. Each town was re- 
quired to raise by taxation at least one-half its share in the 
apportionment of $35,000, an increase of one-sixth in the obliga- 
tion of the town. School committees apportioning school 
money were required to divide the town's share of the $15,000 
equally amongst the districts ; also one-half of the town's share 
in the $35,000 equally, and the other half on the basis of average 
daily attendance. Proceeds of the town school tax and the 
registry tax might be divided equally, according to the order of 
the town, or at the discretion of the school committee in the 
absence of a town order. The novelty of the law lay in the 
recognition of average daily attendance as a new basis of 
apportionment. 

In 1865 towns were required to appropriate annually an 
amount equal to the town's share in the state's distribution of 
$35,000, carrying the state-town school appropriation to 
$85,000. Three years later the state raised its annual appro- 
priation to $70,000, apportioned in the same ratio as the earlier 
$50,000, and at the same time required towns to raise at least 
one-half the town's share in the distribution of the whole 



PUBLIC SCHOOL FINANCE. 313 

$70,000, the combined state-town appropriation thus reaching 
$105,000. 

Rate bills were forbidden thereafter, and the public schools 
of the state became free schools in fact as well as in name. 
Several towns had anticipated the law, Providence as early as 
1833. In 1869 the state added another $20,000 to its annual 
appropriation, in 1870 receipts from dog licenses were appro- 
priated to the support of schools, and in 1871 towns were re- 
quired to raise for school support an amount equal to their 
shares in the apportionment of the state appropriation. The 
state-town appropriation thus became $180,000 annually. 

The Laws Codified. — The General Statutes of 1872 furnished 
a codification of the law of school money apportionment as 
follows. It will be noted that the division of $90,000 as $63,000 
and $27,000 followed the seven-three ratio (that is $35,000- 
$15,000) of the law of 1854. 

Chapter 46, Seel. The sum of $90,000 shall be annually 
paid out of the income of the permanent school fund and from 
other money in the treasury for the support of public schools 
in the several towns upon the order of the Commissioner of 
Public Schools. 

Sec. 2. The sum of $63,000 shall be apportioned ... in 
proportion to the number of children . . . under the age 
of 15; and the sum of $27,000 ... in proportion to the 
number of school districts in each town. 

Sec. 3. The money appropriated by the state as aforesaid 
shall be denominated "teachers' money" and shall be applied 
to the wages of teachers and to no other purpose. 

Sec. 4. No town shall receive any part of such state appro- 
priation unless it shall raise by tax for the support of public 
schools, a sum equal to the amount it may receive from the 
state treasury for the support of public schools. 

Chapter 47, Sec. 3. Any town may vote ... to 
provide schoolhouses . . . fixtures and appendages there- 
to in all the districts ... at the common expense of the 
town: Provided, that if any district shall provide at its own 
expense a schoolhouse approved by the school committee, such 
district shall not be taxed by the town to build or repair schools 
for other districts. 



314 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

Sec. 4. Every school district may raise money by tax on 
the ratable property of the district to support public schools 

. . . provided that the amount of the tax shall be ap- 
proved by the school committee. 

Chapter 52, Sec. 2. The trustees of school districts shall 
provide schoolrooms and fuel. 

Sec. 3. The trustees shall see that scholars are properly 
supplied with books, and in case they are not, and the parents, 
guardians or masters have been notified thereof by the teacher, 
shall provide the same at the expense of the district. 

Chapter 53, Sec 12. Wherever the public schools are 
maintained by district organization the school committee shall 
apportion . . . among the school districts the town's 
proportion of the sum of $63,000 received from the state, one- 
half equally and the other half according to the average daily 
attendance of the school of the preceding year. 

Sec. 13. Wherever the town is divided into school districts 

. . . the school committee shall apply equally among 
all the districts of the town the town's proportion of the sum 
of $27,000 received from the state. 

Sec. 14. The school committee shall apply the money re- 
ceived from the town, from the registry tax, from school funds 
and from other sources, either equally or in such proportion 
as the town may direct, and for want of such direction, then 
in such manner as they deem best. 

Sec. 21. The school committee may use annually out of 
the public appropriation a sum not exceeding $40 to defray 
the expense of printing their report. 

The annual appropriation and the method of apportionment 
remained unchanged from 1869 to 1884. But in the meantime 
the state had established Rhode Island Normal School, for 
which it had purchased and refitted a building, and which it 
maintained at an annual expenditure of close to $10,000. For 
evening schools $5000 was appropriated in 1873, to be appor- 
tioned and expended under the direction of the State Board of 
Education, with a smaller amount annually thereafter, accord- 
ing to the necessities of the evening schools. From 1880 dates 
an annual appropriation of $3000, apportioned to the several 
towns to aid in purchasing dictionaries, encyclopaedias, works 
of reference, maps and similar school apparatus. Rhode Island 
was not marking time in educational progress, by any means. 



PUBLIC SCHOOL FINANCE. 315 

Beginning in 1879, the towns were required to take an annual 
census of children between the ages of five and fifteen years, 
but the purpose of this census at that time was to aid in enforcing 
the truancy law, not to determine the apportionment of school 
money. The Supreme Court having declared the school law 
merely permissive, in 1882 compliance with its provisions was 
made mandatory. 

The Act of 1884- — In 188,4 the state made its last increase of 
the general appropriation for the support of public schools, and 
also changed the method of apportionment. The statute pro- 
vided for an annual appropriation of $120,000, to be appor- 
tioned by the Commissioner of Public Schools among the several 
towns, as follows: "The sum of $100 shall be apportioned for 
each school, not to exceed 15 in any one town; the remainder 
shall be apportioned according to the school census in propor- 
tion to the number of children from five to fifteen years of age, 
inclusive, in the several towns, according to the school census 
then last preceding." School in this statute refers to the 
organization of teacher, class, and school register; that is, 
approximately, schoolroom rather than schoolhouse. This 
feature of the law was merely an adaptation of the district unit, 
with the exception that units over fifteen were not counted in 
the apportionment. The effect of the law was distinctly favor- 
able to the smaller towns. On the other hand, apportionment 
of the balance of the appropriation on the basis of school popu- 
lation rather than school attendance, distinctly favored the 
cities and larger towns, where parochial and other private schools 
are maintained. The apportionment by schools has increased 
slowly in 30 years, quite as much through the division of 
towns as through increase in the number of schools in smaller 
towns. In consequence of this increase and also because of 
increase of school population, the per capita apportioned has 
shrunken approximately 50 per cent., from $1.20 to 60 cents, 
in round numbers. 



316 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

Another Change of Policy. — The beginning of a new policy of 
apportionment overlapped the period which culminated in the 
law of 1884. While, as the amount of the appropriation fixed 
by the law of 1884 remains unchanged, the state may not be 
said to have abandoned the principle of the law of 1884, every 
advance in the past 30 years and two advances prior to 1884 
apply a somewhat different method of apportionment. A 
brief resume of this legislation follows: 

1873. An annual appropriation for the support and main- 
tenance of evening schools in the various towns, under the 
general supervision of the State Board of Education, which 
apportions state aid at the discretion of the Board and accord- 
ing to necessity. The first appropriation carried $5000; the 
amount has varied; it was $9000 in 1917. The law prescribed 
no town obligation. The Board in 1916 adopted rules and 
regulations governing the apportionment of evening school 
money. 

1880. An annual appropriation of $3000 for the purchase 
of dictionaries, encyclopaedias and other works of reference, 
maps, globes and other apparatus, for use of the public schools 
of the state. To participate in the apportionment towns must 
expend an amount equal to the state money, for the same pur- 
pose. Aid was limited to $200 per town and $10 per school 
annually. The restriction favored the smaller towns. The 
amount of the appropriation has been increased to $4500. 

1898. An act to encourage the consolidation of ungraded 
schools and the organization of graded schools, provided an 
additional $100 annually for each graded school organized in 
accordance with its provisions, and that the towns should lose 
no part of the general appropriation in consequence of the 
reduction in the number of schools. The act clearly aimed to 
improve rural schools. 

1898. An act to encourage and assist the establishment and 
maintenance of high schools, provided for the payment to towns 



PUBLIC SCHOOL FINANCE. 317 

maintaining high schools in which the course of study was ap- 
proved by the State Board of Education, or sending children to 
approved high schools or academies in other towns, of $20 for 
each pupil in average attendance up to 25 pupils, and $10 per 
pupil for each additional pupil up to 25, the maximum share 
of a town being $750. In 1909 aid was increased to $25 each 
for the first 25 pupils and $15 each for the second 25, making 
the town's share $1000, but the act of 1909 made the main- 
tenance of a high school or the sending of town children to an 
approved high school compulsory. The act was intended to 
provide high school education for every town in the state. To 
aid graded schools and high schools the state appropriated 
$37,500 in 1917. The limitation of the amount of state aid 
for high schools favors the smaller towns, 

1903. An act providing state aid for towns employing 
expert superintendents. Providence, in 1839, hired the first 
Rhode Island town superintendent of schools. Towns were 
authorized to appoint superintendents by the act of 1851. 
In 1871 school committees were required to elect superin- 
tendents if the towns failed to do so. In 1903 the state under- 
took the payment of $750 toward the salary of every super- 
intendent receiving annually not less than $1500. The act was 
intended as a persuasive inducement to small towns to raise 
the nominal salaries paid to part-time superintendents, and 
secure experts at small additional expense to the towns. The 
appropriation for this purpose was $19,000 in 1917, In 1915 
a plan for supervision even more favorable for small towns 
was adopted. 

1903. School districts were abolished, the law to take effect 
January 1, 1904. The district had ceased to be a factor in the 
apportionment of state school money, under the act of 1884. 
The effects of abolishing districts were, on the revenue side, 
the elimination of school district taxes and the transfer of the 
burden of support of schools from the districts to the town as a 



318 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

unit; and on the apportionment side, the obviation of special 
distribution to particular schools. The abolition of districts 
tended to level town school standards — upward. The act also 
caused important administrative changes. 

1909. The state fixed the minimum salary for teachers at 
$400. To assist towns paying smaller salaries, the state assumed 
one-half the increased expenditure. The appropriation in 1917 
was $6500. An indirect consequence of this act was a lengthen- 
ing of the school year in several towns, which warranted legis- 
lation making the minimum school year 36 weeks. Several 
town school committees realized that a teacher's annual salary 
could be raised just as easily by lengthening the school year as 
by increasing her weekly wages. The lengthened school year 
gave the towns a return for the additional expenditure for in- 
struction, which was taken advantage of. It is not certain 
that this by-product of the minimum salary law was not fore- 
seen by the Commissioner of Public Schools. 

1911. An act to encourage and aid medical inspection. 
Up "to $250 annually, any town may receive from the state 
one-half its expenditure for regular medical inspection in public 
and private schools. The restriction favors the smaller towns. 
The appropriation was $4000 in 1917. 

1912. An act providing an appropriation from which any 
town may receive from the state one-half the amount which the 
town expends for apparatus and equipment for instruction in 
manual training and household arts, and one-half the town's 
expenditure for instruction in courses in vocational industrial 
education. The appropriation is $5000 annually. 

1913. An act appropriating $5000 annually, which the State 
Board of Education and the Commissioner of Public Schools 
apportion as special assistance to towns in which the taxable 
property is inadequate, at the average rate of taxation through- 
out the state, to support public schools of high standard. No 
limitation is imposed upon the purposes for which the money 
may be expended. 



PUBLIC SCHOOL FINANCE. 319 

The Purpose: Improvement and Extension. — The state appro- 
priations for apportionment to the several towns for school 
purposes under the legislation cited exceeded $90,000 in 1917. 
Since 1884, without changing the amount of its general school 
appropriation, Rhode Island has increased its appropriations 
for aid of public schools more than 75 per cent. Under the 
earlier general appropriation laws a system of state-town schools, 
maintained under mandatory statutes and supported partly 
by the state and partly by town taxation, had been developed. 
The legislation and appropriations since 1884 have aimed at 
improvement and extension of the system. The state, from 
time to time, has selected a specific progressive movement for 
encouragement. The policy of apportionment has been deter- 
mined largely by the needs of the weaker towns, in an attempt 
to ■ lighten the burdens imposed or to be undertaken. The 
purpose of the state has been improvement for all schools, city 
and rural, alike. As a rule, therefore, the maximum aid for 
cities and towns has been the same in amount, but the aid per 
pupil and proportionate to taxable wealth has been greatest 
in the weakest towns. The principle of attractive legislation 
has been maintained, and with it the principle of encouraging 
self-help. To the towns the state has said : " If you will under- 
take this improvement, I will help you by sharing the cost." 

Recapitulating: The bases of apportioning public school 
money in Rhode Island have varied as follows: 

1800. Taxable wealth ; law repealed, 1803. 

1800-1845. Population under 16-15. 

1845-1854. Population under 15 and taxable wealth. 

1854-1857. Population under 15, number of school districts 
and taxable wealth. 

1857-1884. To the towns, population under 15, number of 
school districts and taxable wealth. To the districts, number 
of districts, average attendance, discretion of the school com- 
mittee and taxable wealth. 



320 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

1884-1917. General appropriation, number of schools up to 
15 in each town or city, and school population, 5 to 15 years. 
Special appropriations, generally an amount equal to one-half 
the town's expenditure up to a specified maximum. 

PUBLIC SUPPORT OF SCHOOLS. 

The significant facts in the history of public support of schools 
in Rhode Island are the increase in the amount of the state's 
annual appropriations; the vastly more rapid increase in the 
amount of money raised by town ' taxation and appropriated by 
the towns for school purposes ; the increase in the total amount of 
money available for school support, accelerated by larger returns 
from all sources; and the placing of the burden of public school 
support on taxation of wealth. The story is told statistically 
in the following tables so clearly that scarcely any comment is 
necessary, beyond an explanation of the grouping of figures, 
the sources from which they were obtained, and the changes 
from time to time in the grouping, knowledge of which is a 
necessary precaution against comparisons which might be odious 
through error. 

The figures have been taken from 66 reports of the Com- 
missioner of Public Schools to the General Assembly and to 
the Board of Education. The tables show the amounts of state 
appropriations distributed to the towns annually, but no part 
of the money which the state expends directly or appropriates 
for institutions; the amounts of town appropriations for school 
support and improvement annually ; the amounts derived from 
rate bills and school district taxes annually; the amounts de- 
rived from specified sources, but not, separately, from all other 
sources annually; and the total amount from all sources avail- 
able for school support in each year. This total includes, be- 
sides the total amounts of receipts from sources specifically and 
separately presented, additional receipts from school funds, 
loans, donations or any other source. The two columns under 
expenditures separate the amounts paid in each year for in- 



PUBLIC SCHOOL FINANCE. 



321 



struction and incidental school expenses, that is, cost of main- 
tenance, from the amounts paid for buildings and school fur- 
niture, properly rated as permanent improvements. 

The purpose of the tables is to measure by statistics the 
growth of a public consciousness and its expression in the 
acceptance by the people of Rhode Island of the responsibility 
of supporting public education. The record is such that the 
state may well feel proud of it. 

The first table covers 19 years, from 1851 to 1869, and shows 
state and town appropriations, receipts from rate bills and 
registry taxes, total amounts available for school purposes, and 
expenditures for schools and buildings. The irregularity in 
the increase normally to be expected is explained in large part 
by incomplete returns; the figures for 1861, a notable exception 
to the rule of sustained improvement, omit school expenditures 
in Providence. The returns from rate bills and registry taxes 
fluctuated. The table stops at 1869 because of the abolition 
of rate bills. 





Appropriations. 


Rate 
Bill. 


Registry 
Tax. 


Total.* 


Expenditures. 




State. 


Town. 


Schools. 


B'ld'gs. 


1851 

1852 

1853 

1854 

1855 

1856 

1S57 

1858 

1859 

1860 

1861 

1862 

1863 

1864 

1865 

1866 

1867 

1868 

1869 


$35,168 
34,998 
35,000 
34,997 
49,994 
49,994 
50,931 
49,997 
49,997 
49,997 
49,997 
49,164 
49,997 
49,997 
49,997 
49,997 
49,997 
49,997 
70,000 


$55,489 

55,806 

66,081 

61,013 

62,565 

79,740 

98,212 

107,021 

91,284 

95,873 

99,281 

94,972 

99,296 

101,518 

150,596 

150,563 

165,317 

189,664 

199,861 


$10,075 

10,210 

6,516 

10,823 

• 11,721 

10,502 

7,394 

5,251 

5,893 

6,831 

5,420 

3,739 

4,551 

3,296 

4,920 

9,655 

9,630 

8,945 

2,452 


$6,327 

8,015 

7,369 

6,185 

7,923 

6,522 

11,185 

10,163 

10,794 

11,539 

15,512 

12,681 

13,443 

10,339 

9,784 

7,489 

10,867 

24,758 

12,432 


$110,294 
115,160 
125,004 
118,602 
138,613 
151,843 
172,415 
190,969 
162,687 
168,365 
174,695 
164,493 
160,74S 
178,954 
177,240 
227,791 
324,831 
286,852 
302,807 


$94,472 
98,135 
115,081 
103,050 
131,675 
148,347 
167,520 
112,177 
151,696 
120,075 
82,093 
158,324 
166,308 
166,611 
143,614 
201,279 
217,906 
271,562 
267,176 


$23,903 

9,626 
21,902 

7,349 
16,001 
33,085 
32,518 
48,085 
12,457 
34,729 
25,528 

2,577 
21,587 

9,704 
17,578 
23.51S 
89,098 
62,309 
85,845 



tlncludes balances, loans, income of funds and donations. 



322 



PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 



The school district tax replaced the rate bill in 1868-9. The 
receipts from registry taxes in the following table are combined 
with "other receipts," as in the reports of the Commissioner. 
The first appropriation for evening schools appeared in the state 
column for 1874, and that for apparatus in 1881. The table 
covers 20 years, stopping at 1887, when the registry tax passed 
out of the Constitution. The extraordinary figure in the 
fourth column for 1874 is not an error; the large receipts were 
probably due to loans for school building. 















Expenditures. 




State. 


Town. 


Registry 
and other. 


District 
Taxes. 


Total.* 
























Schools. 


B'ld'gs. 


1870 


$90,000 


$246,046 


$4S,890 


$82,197 


$470,899 


$336,662 


$212,391 


1871 


90,000 


315,348 


36,363 


58,952 


514,040 


312,326 


148,835 


1872. . . 


90,000 
90,000 


309,579 
414,186 


24,491 
28,899 


59,722 
41,664 


496,906 
589,861 


375,407 
431,520 


90,217 


1873 


171,292 


1874 


93,314 


328,322 


210,355 


66,882 


745,770 


453,670 


237,181 


1875 


92,495 


566,756 


28,587 


47,626 


761,797 


489,317 


274,326 


1876 


91,569 


509,957 


39,631 


58,915 


734,116 


642,879 


206,587 


1877 


91,654 


521,156 


34,440 


52,785 


730,422 


502,846 


223,117 


1878 


92,307 


494,637 


34,600 


56,543 


709,444 


555,102 


174,669 


1879 


92,923 


423,272 


27,467 


31,786 


600,208 


479,862 


117,886 


1880 


93,248 


365,422 


26,390 


49,429 


558,451 


487,631 


56,570 


1881 


93,859 


397,241 


33,753 


37,325 


582,966 


503,543 


46,394 


1882 


94,106 


409,344 


25,192 


60,691 


608,126 


519,702 


73,134 


1883 


92,995 


481,172 


23,807 


55,270 


674,396 


517,101 


130,215 


1884 


92,370 


474,677 


32,387 


37,482 


659,586 


534,183 


102,359 


1885 


93,580 


572,047 


31,143 


44,669 


780,003 


571,827 


164,995 


1886 


123,869 


582,515 


32,226 


54,223 


839,865 


608,380 


174,586 


1887 


123,945 


578,286 


39,261 


35,131 


844,225 


636,983 


161,482 


1888 


124,563 


620,165 


46,616 


51,157 


930,540 


743,190 


184,785 


1889 


125,001 


655,070 


51,525 


63,790 


978,962 


690,074 


217,213 



♦Includes balances, loans, income of funds and donations. 

Poll taxes replaced registry taxes in 1889-90. The figures 
below combine poll and dog taxes. Until 1900 the two sources 
produced nearly an equal revenue, dogs slightly leading ratable 
polls who paid taxes. The right to vote being independent of 
the payment of this tax, there was no incentive to pay it, par- 
ticularly where towns made little attempt to enforce collection. 
A decision by the Supreme Court that the poll tax was con- 



PUBLIC SCHOOL FINANCE. 



323 



stitutional and that collection could be enforced, increased the 
receipts from this source and explains the marked improvement 
in the fourth column of the table, beginning with 1902. The 
table covers 15 years, from 1890 to 1904, when school districts 
were abolished. 















Expenditures. 








Polls 












State. 


Town. 


and dogs. 


Taxes. 


Total* 


Schools. 


B'ld'gs. 


1890 


$124,596 


$685,004 


$41,352 


$61,382 


$1,091,994 


$714,910 


$203,080 


1891 


128.45S 


763,675 


43,402 


66,270 


1,185,104 


801,272 


256,384 


1892 


126,366 


839,662 


41,011 


59,388 


1,469,301 


833,420 


467,596 


1893 


127,120 


898,529 


42,155 


45,560 


1,334,108 


907,268 


277,790 


1894 


126,747 


966,594 


36,550 


55,647 


1,670,010 


1,058,134 


420,706 


1895 


128,940 


1,116,801 


36,926 


46,919 


1,633,290 


1,095,999 


267,086 


1896 


127,129 


1,125,664 


37,116 


45,118 


1,715,300 


1,135,126 


493,455 


1897 


128,281 


1,214,197 


35,654 


47,695 


1,774,106 


1,197,121 


534,614 


1898 


129,294 


1,248,467 


33,361 


53,700 


1,781,757 


1,282,962 


434,531 


1899 


128,324 


1,223,733 


32,307 


43,151 


1,665,609 


1,296,781 


274,114 


1900 


139,799 


1,206,684 


43,623 


52,224 


1,572,307 


1,328,843 


197,713 


1901 


141,250 


1,279,926 


50,234 


40,773 


1,673,449 


1,386,549 


243,410 


1902 


141,805 


1,485,953 


57,407 


54,938 


1,868,382 


1,407,658 


300,755 


1903 


142,773 


1,417,610 


61,437 


78,534 


1,948,685 


1,455,206 


401,169 


1904 


149,019 


1,476,837 


66,101 


2,044 


1,854,952 


1,542,353 


262,409 



♦Includes balances, loans, income of funds and donations. 



With the abolition of school districts, district taxes passed 
from the sources of school revenue, In the table that follows 
poll taxes and dog taxes are separated. 





State. 


Town. 


Polls. 


Dog. 


Total.* 


Expenditures. 




















Schools. 


B'ld'gs. 


1905 


$152,346 


$1,593,935 


$38,951 


$29,679 


$2,014,821 


$1,563,856 


$393,894 


1906 


157,168 


1,785,368 


40,615 


30,410 


2,340,186 


1,707,485 


534,124 


1907 


159,530 


1,850,677 


39,009 


29,639 


2,433,958 


1,772,711 


509,426 


1908 


160,725 


1,S66,220 


37,585 


27,165 


2,439,139 


1,856,167 


445,884 


1909 


162,796 


2,021,792 


38,118 


25,219 


2,973,301 


1,927,171 


915,866 


1910 


162,598 


2,477,625 


39,797 


28,088 


2,537,943 


1,976,261 


510,496 


1911 


170,510 


2,095,324 


39,701 


28,825 


2,480,493 


2,075,53S 


282,233 


1912 


173,863 


2,166,350 


38,152 


29,997 


2,578,106 


2,152,523 


252,129 


1913 


176,520 


2,386,506 


39,936 


30,818 


2,890,013 


2,250,673 


467,219 


1914 


1S8.592 


2,427,768 


40,145 


27,449 


3,011,166 


2,397,578 


471,276 


1915 


192,644 


2,880,248 


59,807 


26,183 


3,581,062 


2,518,367 


818,018 


1916 


204,659 


2,957,598 


67,731 


26,098 


3,940,294 


2,673,574 


929,963 



♦Includes balances, loans, income of funds and donations. 



324 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

Another Measure of Progress. — An even more convincing 
measure of progress in the state is furnished by the figures in the 
following tables, which show the growth of the tax levied upon 
ratable property by the towns for school purposes from year to 
year, and the gradual increase in the per capita available for the 
education of the school population. That is, the tables show: 
First, that the burden of school support assumed by the tax- 
payers has increased faster than taxable wealth, because the 
tax rate has increased. Second, that the amount of money 
provided by the towns for school support has increased faster 
than school population, because the per capita available has 
increased. Neither tax rate nor per capita would increase 
if the annual appropriations merely kept pace with the growth 
of taxable wealth and the increase of school population. This 
proof of progress is conclusive. The figures for the tables were 
taken from the annual reports of the Commissioner of Public 
Schools. 

The first table covers 13 years, from 1874 to 1886. The per 
capita expenditure is "exclusively for teachers' wages." 





Tax 


Per 




Tax 


Per 




rate. 


capita. 




rate. 


capita. 


1874 


10 


t. . . . 


1881 


. . . 1075 


7.46 


1875 


11 


7.19 


1882 


.. .1125 


7.23 


1876 


11 


7.64 


1883'. 


. . .12 


7.06 


1877 


... .11 




1884 
1885 


.13 
. . . 1350 


7.34 


1878 


10 


8.84 


1879 


10 




1886 


. .. .1375 


7.81 


1880 


10 


7.47 









The second table shows the town school tax rate, and the cost 
of schools per capita of school population. 



PUBLIC SCHOOL FINANCE. 



325 



1887. 
1888. 
1889. 
1890. 
1891. 
1892. 
1893. 
1894. 
1895. 
1896. 
1897. 
1898. 
1899. 
1900. 
1901. 



Tax 


Per 


rate. 


capita. 


14 


7.26 


1650 


7.73 


1675 


7.87 


17 


8.43 


18 


9.09 


20 


10.03 


22 


10.86 


23 


11.59 


2225 


11.53 


2475 


12.79 


2725 


13.89 


2775 


13.76 


2750 


13.70 


2850 


14.06 


2850 


13.88 





Tax 


Per 




rate. 


capita 


1902 


. . .29 


14.01 


1903 


.. .3150 


15.13 


1904 


.. .3175 


15.07 


1905 


.3125 


15.66 


1906 


.. .3375 


16.52 


1907 


. . . 3375 


16.60 


190S 


. . . 3375 


16.47 


1909 


. . . 3475 


17.28 


1910 


. . . 3475 


18.11 


1911 


. . . 3525 


18.54 


1912 


. . . 3525 


18.38 


1913 


. . . 3300 


19.47 


1914 


. . . 3350 


20.78 


1915 


.. .3425 


21.40 


1916 


.. .3775 


23.46 



THE STATE'S CONTRIBUTION TO EDUCATION. 

The splendid record of state-town support of free public 
schools covers only one phase of the state's activity in the pro- 
motion of public education, and the money apportioned by the 
state to the towns is approximately only one-third of the state's 
entire expenditure for public education. One-fourth of the 
state's annual appropriations are made directly for educational 
purposes, this calculation including only money paid for schools, 
libraries and educational institutions, and excluding expendi- 
tures for printing and binding books and reports for general 
distribution, and money paid for support of institutions whose 
major purpose is not distinctly educational. Besides the exemp- 
tion of educational institutions from taxation, and the support 
and maintenance of free public schools for normal children, the 
state's educational activities may be classified thus: 

1. Administrative and supervisory. 

2. Preparation, education, training and improvement of the 
teaching staff, and measures for the improvement of the status 
of the teacher economically. 

3. Maintenance and support of institutions of higher learning 
and technical training. 



326 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

4. Provision of educational opportunities for classes of 
citizens whose defects or abnormalities bar them from the public 
schools or render their attendance at public schools of doubtful 
value to themselves or detrimental to the schools. 

5. Maintenance of schools in connection with eleemosynary 
and corrective institutions. 

6. Maintenance of two state libraries, and of travelling 
libraries, and aid for and supervision of free public libraries. 

7. Aid for historical and humane societies. 

The history of the origin, foundation and development of 
these educational activities has been given in another chapter. 
The discussion here is limited to public finance. 

1. Administrative and supervisory. Central control of the 
state system of schools is vested in the State Board of Educa- 
tion and the Commissioner of Public Schools. The State 
Board serves without compensation. The salaries of the Com- 
missioner and his assistant, and the expenses of his office exceed 
$10,000 annually. 

2. Education and improvement of teachers. The state 
maintains one normal school, in Providence, and to equalize 
opportunity" pays mileage for pupils from outside the city. 
From $10,000 the cost, of maintenance has risen to $70,000 
annually.* Mileage for students costs $4000 annually. The 
state also supports with an appropriation of $5000 annually a 
graduate department of education in Brown University; free 
scholarships are granted by the State Board of Education to 
teachers and prospective teachers. For teachers' institutes the 
state appropriates $500 annually, and for lectures and addresses 
for teachers, $800 annually. 

High standards of professional training of teachers are main- 
tained through the state certificate law. For the examination 

*This is in addition to tuition fees for pupils in the observation school and normal depart- 
ment, which are credited to the normal school account. 



PUBLIC SCHOOL FINANCE. 327 

and certification of teachers by the State Board of Education, 
the state provides $2800 annually. 

Beyond the apportionment of teachers' money to the towns, 
and the teachers' minimum salary law, the economic status of 
teachers is improved through the pension law, which relieves 
teachers somewhat of the necessity of saving for their declining 
years. Rhode Island's pension law is maintained exclusively 
by the state, which exacts no contribution from the teachers. 
The cost exceeds $45,000 annually. 

Altogether, Rhode Island spends $130,000 annually for the 
improvement of teaching and for the benefit of teachers. 

3. Higher education and technical education. The state 
supplements Federal Government provision for the Rhode 
Island State College by an annual appropriation of $40,000, 
besides providing the site and buildings, the state's investment 
exceeding $450,000. Special courses at the Rhode Island 
School of Design receive state aid; the state provides free 
scholarships at this school. The Rhode Island School of Design 
is a quasi-public educational institution, chartered by the state 
and supported by endowments, donations, tuition and state 
appropriations. Two members of the State Board of Educa- 
tion serve as members of the board of directors of the school, 
and the Commissioner of Public Schools is a director and a 
member of the executive committee. The Rhode Island College 
of Pharmacy receives $1000 annually for scholarships. Higher 
education costs the state at least $64,000 annually. 

4. Education of defective classes. Two schools, the Rhode 
Island Institute for the Deaf and the Exeter School, are state 
institutions. For blind children of indigent parents the State 
Board of Education may provide suitable care, maintenance 
and instruction up to school age. Blind children of school age 
may be sent at the expense of the state to institutions for the 
education of the blind. For the adult blind, education in their 
homes is provided. Besides the state's investment in sites and 



328 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

buildings, education of these defective classes involves an annual 
expenditure of $115,000. 

5. Eleemosynary and corrective. The State Home and 
School affords an asylum, as well as an education, for neglected 
and dependent children not recognized as vicious or criminal. 
The annual cost is $70,000. In correctional institutions for 
youth, the Sockanosset School for Boys and the Oaklawn School 
for Girls, schooling is supplemented by vocational and industrial 
training. 

6. Libraries. Rhode Island maintains a State Library and 
legislative reference bureau at an annual cost of $10,000; a 
State Law Library, for use of judges and counsel, costing $8,000 
annually, and distributes $9700 for the support of free public 
libraries. Travelling libraries and a library visitor increase the 
annual cost by $2500, the total for library support being $30,200 
annually. 

7. Historical and humane societies receive $10,000 annually 
from the state. 

Thus Rhode Island spends $130,000 for the improvement of 
teaching and teachers, $64,000 for higher education, $115,000 
for the education of defective classes, $70,000 for the education 
of neglected and dependent children, $30,200 for libraries, 
$10,000 for historical and humane societies, which with the 
money apportioned to the towns for school support and the 
expenses of administration, makes a grand total of $650,000. 
Less than $10,000 is derived from the income of the permanent 
school fund, the balance being a product of taxation. The 
total amount available for education, through state and town 
appropriations is, therefore, nearly four and one-half million 
dollars annually. 

Ancillary School Finance. — Rhode Island's participation in 
educational activity ancillary to free public schools is not of 
merely recent date, as witness the following chronology: 



PUBLIC SCHOOL FINANCE. 329 

1845. Office of Commissioner of Public Schools created. 
1845. First annual appropriation for education of the blind. 
1845. Commissioner of Public Schools authorized to aid and 
encourage free public libraries. 

1849. First annual appropriation for teachers' institutes. 

1850. Agreement with Brown University for establishing 
department for training of teachers. 

1852. First normal school established. 

1852. Secretary of State authorized to procure room for 
Library. 

1854. Second normal school established. 

1857. Commissioners appointed by Governor to visit Eng- 
land and the Continent, to ascertain best means of improv- 
ing manufactures depending upon design. 

1863. Land scrip, under Morrill act, assigned to Brown 
University, for establishing a college or department of agricul- 
ture- 

1863. Rhode Island Institute of Instruction chartered. 
Established 1844. 

1864. Work of educating defective classes extended; annual 
appropriation for education of blind, deaf, dumb, idiots and 
imbeciles. 

1866. Appropriation for normal training of teachers at 
academies. 

1867. Towns authorized to levy taxes for free library sup- 
port. 

1868. State Law Library established under care of Clerk of 
Supreme Court. This library succeeded the Providence Bar 
Library and took over books of the state entrusted to the latter. 

1870. State Board of Education created. 

1871. Present Rhode Island Normal School established. 
1873. State aid for evening schools. 



330 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

1875. State Board of Education authorized to apportion 
State aid to free public libraries. 

1877. Institute for Deaf established. 

1882-1884. Rhode Island School of Design. State scholar- 
ships provided. 

1884. State Home and School established. 

1888. Rhode Island State College established, first as an 
agricultural and mechanics arts school. In 1893 the school was 
reorganized as a college of agriculture and mechanic arts. 

1898. State Board of Education made exclusive agency for 
certificating teachers. 

1907. Exeter School established. 

1909. First teachers' pensions legislation. 

1911. Travelling libraries and library visitor provided for. 

1912. Graduate courses and free scholarships in education 
at Brown University authorized. 

With the exception of the earlier normal schools and the 
department of agriculture at Brown University, each of the 
activities thus begun has been continued. The present normal 
school has been in some part the fruition of earlier failures. 
The department of agriculture at Brown University was dis- 
continued when the state reorganized the school of agriculture 
and mechanic arts at Kingston as a college. 

THE PHILOSOPHY OF SCHOOL FINANCE— 
A SUMMARY. 

The history of school finance in Rhode Island is unitary — not 
fragmentary. It portrays a growth — an evolution — paralleling 
and corresponding with the development of a civic social con- 
sciousness. Rhode Island's realization of public responsibility 
for education of all the people of the state did not spring full 
grown from the deliberations of one session of the General 



PUBLIC SCHOOL FINANCE. 331 

Assembly, as did Athena from the brow of Zeus; it passed 
through several preliminary stages of development and attained 
full florescence only after nearly a century of experience. The 
beginning was not with a mandatory statute, as in Massa- 
chusetts and Connecticut; in Rhode Island the mandatory 
statute of 1882 perfected a structure already erected. The law 
of 1882 simply forbade — as has more than one Rhode Island 
school law — a retrogression and the abandonment of a function 
already exercised. The development of public responsibility 
may be traced in school financial legislation, and the several 
stages may be characterized by six words: 

1. Recognition. — The earliest school legislation, exempting 
school property from taxation, symbolizes the state's recognition 
of education as beneficial to the state. The words of the charter 
granted to Rhode Island College are significant: "So as most 
effectually to answer the valuable ends of this most useful 
institution." Beyond recognition public sentiment scarcely 
went; hostile public sentiment caused the repeal of the law of 
1800. 

2. Patronage. — The law of 1828 is typical of patronage. 
Rhode Island was almost as prodigal as a spendthrift in setting 
apart for education the money accruing to the state from 
lotteries and auctions. Money easily acquired was thus 
generously devoted to a noble purpose. Still, the General 
Assembly of the period was merely satisfying a demand for 
public schools already becoming insistent. 

3. Opportunity. — The distribution of the surplus revenue of 
the United States under the law of 1836 presented an oppor- 
tunity for school development, which the General Assembly did 
not fail to grasp. 

4. Consciousness. — The Barnard act of 1845 carried respon- 
sibility home to the town taxpayer through its requirement that 
the towns should supplement state appropriations. The growth 



332 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

of public consciousness is indicated in the Constitution of 1842, 
which made the General Assembly a school committee for the 
state, whose duty it is "to promote public schools, and to adopt 
all means which they may deem necessary to secure to the 
people the advantages and opportunity of education." 

5. Consummation. — The growing sense of responsibility 
functioned in increased appropriations, rising from $10,000 
annually to $120,000 annually by the state, and an equivalent 
amount required of the towns. The structure was perfected 
when, in 1882, the permission previously granted towns to 
maintain schools was replaced by a mandatory provision com- 
pelling them. The word shall was substituted for may in the 
statutes. 

6. Selection, or improvement by selection. This is the 
process now in progress, by which the state encourages specific 
improvements by appropriations for special purposes. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



THE PERMANENT SCHOOL FUND. 



The establishment of a permanent school fund was fore- 
shadowed in a constitution for the State of Rhode Island 
adopted in convention at Newport on June 21, 1824, which, 
however, in the referendum, failed of ratification by the free- 
men. This constitution contained an article entitled "Of 
Education," which read as follows: 

1. A fund shall be created from all monies received from 
taxes on licenses granted under the authority of this state, 
for the support of free schools, which shall be called the school 
fund, and shall be invested and remain a perpetual fund, and 
shall continue to accumulate until the interest arising therefrom, 
together with the taxes annually paid on licenses, shall be 
sufficient to support free schools at least three months in each 
year in every town in this state. 

2. All charitable donations for the support of free schools 
shall be invested and applied agreeably to the will and pleasure 
of the donors. 

3. The General Assembly shall make all the necessary 
provisions by law for carrying this article into effect; but no 
law shall ever be passed, authorizing said fund to be diverted 
to any other use than the support of free schools in the several 
towns in this state, as provided in the first paragraph of this 
article. 

The Act of 182S.—^The debate in the January session of the 
General Assembly in 1828 indicates that those who dared not 
oppose openly legislation establishing public schools, attempted 
to prevent immediate action by offering in substitution a plan 
for a permanent school fund, the income of which was to be 
applied to supporting public schools only when sufficient there- 



334 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

for without other aid from the state. So powerful were the 
leaders of this disguised opposition that a provison for a per- 
manent school fund appears in the draft of the act reported 
from committee ; they were unable, however, in the final test to 
carry their substitute, but their argument for a permanent fund 
had so far convinced the majority that when the vote came upon 
the committee report favoring a permanent school fund, the 
latter also received the support of the majority. Thus the act 
of 1828 provided, not only state support for public schools, but 
also the nucleus of a permanent school fund, to which $5000 
was appropriated. The sections of the act of 1828 bearing 
upon the permanent school fund are as follows : 

1. Be it Enacted by the General Assembly and by the 
authority thereof it is Enacted : That from and after the pass- 
ing of this act, all money that shall be paid into the general 
treasury by managers of lotteries or their agents, also all money 
that shall be paid into said treasury by auctioneers for duties 
accruing to the state, shall be set apart and paid over to the 
several towns in this state in manner hereinafter mentioned, 
in proportion to their respective population under the age of 
sixteen years, as exhibited in the census provided by law to be 
taken from time to time under the authority of the United 
States, always adopting for said ratio the census next pre- 
ceding the time of paying out each annual appropriation of said 
money as herein provided, to be by said towns appropriated to 
and for the exclusive purpose of keeping public schools and 
paying the expenses thereof; the sum, however, hereby appro- 
priated, to be paid over in any one year, not to exceed $10,000. 

5. And be it further Enacted: That the General Treasurer 
shall keep an accurate account of all sums of money paid into 
the general treasury by lottery managers or their agents, and 
by auctioneers for duties accruing to the state, and shall make 
a report thereof to the General Assembly once a year, to wit, 
at the May session, particularly setting forth the sums arising 
from each of said sources during the preceding year. 

8. And be it further Enacted: That of the sum now in the 
treasury there be appropriated and set apart the sum of $5000 
for the commencement and formation of a permanent fund 
for the support of public schools; and for that purpose the 
sum of $5000 shall be immediately, or as soon as may be, in- 
vested by the General Treasurer, with the advice of the Gov- 
ernor, by purchase or subscription, in the stock of some safe 



THE PERMANENT FUND. 335 

and responsible bank; to- which such sum shall be added, and 
in like manner invested from year to year, all the monies that 
shall accrue as aforesaid from lotteries and auctions over and 
above said yearly sum of $10,000; and all donations that may 
be made to said fund for the purposes thereof, and the dividends 
and interest that shall from time to time accrue to said fund, 
shall in like manner be added thereto and invested; but when- 
ever, in any year, the amount received as aforesaid from lotteries 
and auctions shall fall short of the sum of $10,000 annually to 
be distributed, the dividends and interest only of said fund 
then accrued, or so much thereof as shall be necessary, shall 
be added to the last-named sum, and paid over and distributed 
according to the provisions of this act. 

9. And be it further Enacted : That whenever in any year 
the money paid into the treasury from the sources provided by 
this act shall fall short of said sum of $10,000, the deficiency 
for said year shall be made good from any money in the treasury 
not otherwise appropriated. 

On April 28, 1828, the General Treasurer purchased for the 
permanent school fund 91 shares of stock of the Mechanics 
Bank of Providence, of the par value of $50 per share, paying 
therefor $5000 and $53.53 for accrued interest. Meanwhile, 
on January 22, 1828, the first payments of money appropriated 
to the new account for support of schools were made and en- 
tered on the books of the treasurer. Up to April 30, 1828, 
$5538.01 had been paid into the general treasury by managers 
of lotteries and auctioneers, and the treasurer was thus able to 
begin after June 1, 1828, paying to the several towns the shares 
in the school appropriation assigned to them by the ratio pro- 
vided by the act. 

Although the school law required only an annual report at 
the May session, the treasurer reported semi-annually, at the 
May and October sessions, the amounts of money collected and 
disbursed under the act, but at no time until the October session, 
1830, did he make a special, particular statement covering the 
operation of the school law as a financial measure. His entry 
of October, 1829, "Carried forward to school account, $20,- 
282.80," refers, not to the condition of the school fund, but to 
the total of other treasury receipts "carried forward" for the 



336 



PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 



purpose of a grand total including the receipts of school money 
for the preceding six months. His report to the General Assem- 
bly at the October session, 1830, is of sufficient importance to 
warrant reproduction just as he presented it — and a careful 
analysis. It follows: 



THE FIRST REPORT. 

The following abstract shows the difference in the amount 
collected from lotteries granted by the state and that from sales 
of foreign lottery tickets: 

Received from managers of lotteries — 

From October, 1827, to April 20, 1828 $7177 . 68* 

From April, 1828, to October, 1828 5572 . 13* 

From October, 1828, to April, 1829 5728.63 

From April, 1829, to October, 1829 5666. 13 

From October, 1829, to April, 1830 7241 . 61* 

From April, 1830, to October 22, 1830 7647 . 42 

$39,033.60* 
On sale of foreign lottery tickets — 

From October, 1827, to April 30, 1828 $424. 97* 

From April, 1828, to October, 1828 256.05* 

From October, 1828, to April, 1829 294. 15 

From April, 1829, to October, 1829 211 . 48 

From October, 1829, to April, 1830 326. 16 

From April, 1830, to October 22, 1830 270.28* 

$1783.09 
To dealers in foreign lottery tickets for licenses — 

Number and amount of granted by town councils, from Octo- 
ber, 1827, to October, 1830, 27 at $100 each 2700 . 00 

$4483.09 
The following abstract will show — ■ 

First, the amount collected from the passage of the act estab- 
lishing public schools. 

Second, the amount paid for annual appropriations. 
Third, interest received from monies invested. 
Fourth, the amount paid for said schools. 

* Errors. 



THE PERMANENT FUND. 337 

First, receipts appropriated by law to public schools, viz. : 

From January, 1828, to October, 1828 $12,573.78 

From October, 1828, to October, 1829 13,250.58* 

From October, 1829, to October, 1830 17,465.21* 

•$43,289.57* 
Second, amount paid for annual appropriations — 

April 28, 1828, paid for 91 shares Mechanics Bank in P. . . . $5053.53 
August 27, 1829, paid for 90 shares Mechanics Bank in P . . . . 4914 . 00 
July 31, 1830, paid for 100 shares Mechanics Bank in P 5400 . 00 

$15,367.53 
Third, interest received from monies invested — 

Dividend, 1829, to July, inclusive $477 . 75 

January, 1830, to January, inclusive. . . . 318.50 

1830, for July do, inclusive 273 . 00 

$1069.25 

Fourth, the amount paid town treasurers for public schools. 
viz. : 

From May, 1828, to May, 1829 $10,000.00 

From May, 1829, to May, 1830 9952.82* 

From May, 1830, to October, 1830 8417.53* 

$28,370.35* 

By which it appears that so far from there being a balance 

unappropriated, derived from the school fund, there is a deficit 

of $1008.71 wanting to balance the account of expenses and 

investments, namely: 

*Recapitulation — Receipts as above $43,289.57 

Dividends 1069.25 

Wanting 1008.71 



$45,367.53 



Expenditures — Investments $15,367.53 

$10,000, three years 30,000.00 



$45,367 . 53 
THOMAS G. PITMAN, General Treasurer. 

* Errors. 



338 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN KHODE ISLAND. 

Reason for the Report. — The reason for the making of this 
statement at the October session appears in the daily newspaper 
reports of the meetings of the General Assembly in October 
and November, 1830. When the treasurer's account was first 
presented to the House of Representatives it was without the 
abstract of the condition of the school fund. The House refused 
to receive the report because it did not comply with the law 
requiring an abstract summary of receipts and payments by 
counties and a classification of accounts. Subsequently the 
abstract referring to the school fund was presented. The 
American of November 2 gave a summary of the more im- 
portant figures, with this comment: "The total deficit from 
the appropriations of $10,000 per annum for schools in three 
years amounts to $1630. This the interest of the permanent 
fund will nearly cover. The system, therefore, operated ad- 
mirably well, and if persevered in will secure to the children of 
the rising generation all the benefits from schools that can be 
desired." The deficit stated by the treasurer was $1008.71. 
The reporter for the American seems to have confused these 
figures with the $1632.69 difference between the $30,000 appro- 
priated and the $28,367.31 actually paid to town treasurers for 
the support of schools. 

No further action upon the treasurer's report was taken until 
the last day of the session, when the Speaker reminded the House 
that the report of the General Treasurer had not been received. 
In the debate that followed it appeared that the House was still 
firm in its conviction that the report was not in proper form, 
and stood ready to adhere to its refusal to receive it. On the 
other hand, it was said that the General Treasurer professed not 
to understand the law, or its requirements. Members of the 
House were equally positive that the law was clear, and that 
the Treasurer was at fault. At this point a peacemaker arose. 
Mr. Simmons said: "I wrote out the abstract for the school 
fund, and no doubt if any gentleman will write down whathe 



THE PERMANENT FUND. 339 

wants, the Treasurer will fill it out." Upon the suggestion of 
the Speaker, while the House was still in doubt, it was voted 
that the report be received "for printing with the schedules." 

It seems clear, therefore, that the report was not carefully 
drawn; probably it was hastily filled out by the Treasurer. The 
report was not examined by a committee of the House, and it 
seems likely that no member of the House gave it careful atten- 
tion. Consequently glaring errors in the abstract escaped notice, 
and the newspapers of the day neglected an opportunity to lay 
bare "a political scandal." The Treasurer, apparently, never 
verified his figures, for his subsequent reports assumed that the 
statement for October, 1830, was accurate, and carried forward 
the errors. 

Errors in the Report. — The places of specific error in the 
treasurer's report have been indicated by asterisks. The 
amount collected from managers of lotteries from April, 1828, 
to October, 1828, was S5784.98; the treasurer omitted an entry 
of $212.85, of which amount there are several entries on different 
dates. From the total collections from October, 1829, to April, 
1830, he omitted $750, recovered by the state's Attorney General 
from the manager of a lottery. The amount given as collected 
from October, 1827, to April 30, 1828, is irrelevant; it includes 
$3039.66 collected previous to the passage of the school act; 
for the period subsequently the amount collected was $4138.02. 
The total collections from managers of lotteries from January 
22, 1828, to October 22, 1830, were $36,956.79. 

The second table presented by the Treasurer is also subject 
to correction. The fees paid by venders of foreign lottery 
tickets fiom April, 1828, to October, 1828, amounted to $452.19, 
that is, $196.14 more than the Treasurer stated. The amount 
given for the period from April, 1830, to October 22, 1830, is 
short $48.43. The first figures, covering the period from Octo- 
ber, 1827, to April 30, 1828, need correction by limita- 
tion to the period subsequent to January 22, 1828, and 



340 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

should read $358.19. The total receipts from venders of for- 
eign lottery tickets were $1961.68, levied at the rate of one per 
centum on total sales, as prescribed by an act passed at the Jan- 
uary session, 1828, subsequently to the enactment of the school 
law. The same act authorized towns to license venders of 
lottery tickets and required the towns to collect from licensees 
$100 per year for the benefit of the state. The Treasurer 
reported 27 such licenses up to the time of his statement. 

Foreign Lotteries. — The relevancy of the question which the 
introduction of the statement suggests had been asked, that is, 
whether the school act of 1828 carried taxes levied on sales of 
foreign lottery tickets and on venders thereof to the school 
appropriation, appears in the language of the act itself The 
words used in the first and fifth sections of the school act are 
these: " All monies that shall be paid into the general treasury 
by managers of lotteries or their agents," while in the eighth 
section the words used are: "All monies that shall accrue as 
aforesaid from lotteries." It may be held fairly that the word 
"aforesaid" in the eighth section carries back the language 
there to previous sections for interpretation, and that a close 
construction of the words used in the first and fifth sections 
would exclude from the provisions of the school act venders of 
foreign lottery tickets on the ground that they were not managers 
of lotteries; nor were they agents in a strictly legal sense. It is 
worthy of note, too, that the General Assembly received, and 
its accounti ng committees approved, reports from the Treasurer 
which were based upon the distinction indicated. 

Other Errors. — Passing to the second part of the treasurer's 
report, the amount of receipts appropriated to public schools 
from October, 1828, to October, 1829, is short $2, and the 
amount from October, 1829, to October, 1830, is short $100.50. 
The following table shows the receipts from lotteries, auctions 
and dividends, and the total for each fiscal year (as the treasurer 
determined it), from January 22, 1828, to October 22, 1830: 



THE PERMANENT FUND. 341 



Lotteries. Auctions. Dividends. Totals. 



Jan. 22, 1828, to April, 1828. $4138.02 $1399.99 

April, 1828, to October, 1828. 5784.98 1250.79 $12,573.78 

October, 1828, to April, 1829. 5728 .63 805 . 60 

April, 1829, to October, 1829. 5666.13 574.47 $477.75 13,252.58 

October, 1829, to April, 1830. 7991.61 619.13 318.50 

April, 1830, to October, 1830. 7647 42 716.05 273.00 17,565.71 

Totals $36,956.79 $5366.03 $1069.25 $43,392.07 

The amounts paid for stocks are given accurately, as are the 
receipts from dividends. The amount paid to town treas- 
urers for public school support from May, 1829, to May, 1830, 
was $9949.78; in his abstract the Treasurer has included $3.04 
for postage on public business, which it does not appear was 
school business. At any rate, it was not properly charged to 
the school appropriation. 

As a matter of course, the Treasurer's recapitulation, when 
based upon such faulty statistics, must be erroneous; and it 
involves a blunder more ridiculous and inexplicable even than 
any noted heretofore. His statement of "receipts appro- 
priated by law to public schools" included dividends paid on 
funds invested; and still in his recapitulation of receipts, he 
adds "dividends, $1069.25." Furthermore, he omitted from 
his calculation of receipts the $5000 appropriated from the 
treasury in January, 1828, to be invested "immediately or as 
soon as may be," as the nucleus of a permanent school fund, 
although he had invested this money and reported the invest- 
ment as a payment. Specifically, then, the recapitulation of 
receipts shows three errors: First, the omission of the appro- 
priation of $5000; second, a discrepancy of $102.50 from the 
amount shown by his reports in the Schedules; third, the second 
introduction of $1069.25 received as dividends. The recapitu- 
lation, when corrected, should read: 

Receipts — Appropriation, January, 1828 $5000.00 

January, 1828, to October, 1830 43,392.07 

Total receipts $48,392.07 



342 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

Expenditures— Investments $15,367.53 

Appropriations 30,000.00 $45,367.53 

Balance in school fund, uninvested $3024 . 54 

The charging of appropriations for public schools at the round 
amount of $10,000 per year, when smaller amounts were actually 
paid to the towns, might be justified on the theory that, as the 
law made no provision for transferring money forfeited by the 
towns to any particular account, as for instance, the present 
law carries such money into the permanent school fund, the 
money not claimed reverted to the state's general account. 
The amount involved up to October, 1830, was $1632.69, 
which, if retained as part of the school fund, would make the 
latter $4657.23. As a matter of fact, several towns received 
payments of arrearages. Mr. Pitman's successor in office 
reversed the practice inaugurated by Mr. Pitman, and charged 
appropriations as the amounts actually paid to the towns. 

A Correct Statement. — The school fund account, as of October, 
1830, might be stated in this way: 

Permanent School Fund — 

Appropriation, January, 1828 $5000.00 

Excess of receipts from lotteries and auctions over $10,000 

annually, three years 12,322 . 82 

Dividends on investments 1069 . 25 

Total $18,392.07 

Investments, actual expenditures 15,367.53 

Balance in permanent fund, uninvested $3024 . 54 

Appropriations not claimed by towns 1632.69 

Par value of school fund stock 14,100.00 

Whether intentionally or carelessly, the General Treasurer, 
by "bookkeeping," had transferred from the school fund the 
$5000 originally appropriated for it, less the $1069.25 earned as 
dividends, which, through a blunder, he credited twice to re- 
ceipts. In October, 1831, he made a second abstract, as follows: 



THE PERMANENT FUND. 343 

Receipts, October, 1830, to October, 1831: $18,768.94 

Payments — Appropriation $10,000.00 

100 shares Globe Bank stock 5065.00 

Wanting 1008.71 16,073.71 



Balance $2695.23 

In the year 1830-1831 the payments to towns were actually 
$9255.49, that is, $744.51 short of $10,000. 

Mr. Pitman's last account as treasurer and his last abstract 

of the condition of the school fund are printed in the Schedules 

for June, 1832, as follows: 

Receipts, October, 1831, to April, 1832 $15,864.64 

Payments, 100 shares Globe Bank stock $5099. 17 

100 shares Globe Bank stock 5025.00 

To town treasurers 2344 . 27 12,468 44 



Balance $3396.20 

The two balances, October, 1831, $2695.23, and April, 1832, 

$3396.20, would make the school fund, uninvested, $6091.43. 

The actual condition should be this: 

Excess of receipts over appropriations, to October, 1830 .... $3024 .54 

Actual balance, October, 1831, $1008 . 71 plus $2695 .23 3703 94 

Balance, April, 1832 3396.20 



Total $10,124.68 

If to $10,124.68 are added $1632.69 and $744.51, that is, 
$2377.20, school money not claimed by towns, the balance in 
the fund would be $12,501.88. There was in the state treasury 
on the date of Mr. Pitman's last report only $1730.23 in cash. 
If Mr. Pitman was intentionally attempting to reduce the school 
fund to a minimum limit, perhaps he was merely travelling 
"the easiest way." 

Recapitulating, a corrected statement of the operation of the 
school law as a financial measure from January, 1828, to April, 
1832, is as follows: 



344 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

Receipts. Payments. 

Jan., 1828, appropriation. . $5000.00 To towns, 1828 . . $10,000.00 

To October, 1828 12,573 . 78 To towns, 1829 . . 9949 . 78 

To October, 1829 13,252.58 To towns, 1830. . 8417.53 

To October, 1830 17,565. 71 To towns, 1831 . . 9255.49 

To October, 1831 18,768.94 To towns, 1832. . 2344.27 

To April, 1832 15,864. 64 . 

! Total $39,967. 07 

Total receipts $83,025. 65 Investments 30,556. 70 

Payments 70,523 . 77 

Total payments . . $70,523.77 

Excess of receipts $12,501 . 88 

Errors Corrected. — In October, 1832, the new General Treas- 
urer, John Sterne, reported that the anticipated excess of gen- 
eral treasury receipts over payments, $4010.23, had been 
invested in stock for the school fund, and that "A particular 
account of the receipts and expenditures on account of the 
public schools is omitted at this time, the act to establish them 
directing it to be made once a year only, to wit, at the May 
session of the General Assembly." In May, 1833, he reported: 
"The receipts since the passage of the act to establish public 
schools from sources of revenue appropriated for their support, 
and including the sum of $5000 set apart by that act out of the 
money in the treasury for the commencement and foundation 
of a permanent fund, exceeded, on May 1, 1832, the amount 
paid for their support and the amount invested for that fund, 
the sum of $12,501.88." No detailed statement accompanies 
this report; but Mr. Sterne had corrected all of Mr. Pitman's 
errors. 

Before passing to the story of the permanent school fund under 
Mr. Sterne's administration, a word should be said of the re- 
markable receipts of school revenue for the period from October, 
1830, to April, 1832. The increased receipts resulted from an 
innovation. The older practice had established a tax on lot- 
teries; the new policy permitted the sale for definite sums of 
money of grants or licenses to conduct lotteries. Under the 
school laws the proceeds accrued to the support of public schools 



THE PERMANENT FUND. 345 

or to the increase of the permanent school fund. Consequently 
the new lotteries were designated public school lotteries. Three 
were granted in the period. The Providence Journal of April 
16, 1832, contained this comment: 

"It is well known that this fund derives its chief revenue from 
lottery grants. The state has for several years received 
a revenue from domestic lotteries and sales at auction, with 
which they have extended to all classes in the community the 
means of obtaining a good education. ... A grant was 
made at the last May session, for which $10,000 has been paid 
into the state treasury. At the June session a similar applica- 
tion was made and granted on similar terms, and at the Jan- 
uary session a third application was made and granted. So 
that in one year the sale of lottery grants has put into the treas- 
ury for the benefit of free schools $30,000. . . ." 

A NEW TREASURER AND A NEW POLICY. 

Through his report to the General Assembly at the May 
session, 1833, General Treasurer John Sterne corrected the 
erroneous "bookkeeping" of his predecessor, which had reduced 
the school fund. His reports of October, 1832, and May, 1833, 
indicate the inauguration of a policy friendly to the accumula- 
tion of the permanent school fund. Thus in October, 1832, and 
in May, 1833, he reported investment for the permanent school 
fund of all the revenue of the state in excess of probable de- 
mands, and in May, 1833, he credited to the school money ac- 
count interest earned on deposits of state revenue, on the whole- 
some theory that while the state was indebted to the school fund, 
treasury balances belonged to the fund and should earn interest 
for it. His account for May, 1833, follows: 

There has been received during the year ending April 29, 
1833— 

From managers of lotteries $15,418.62 

From auctioneers, for duty on sales 555 . 50 

For dividends on school fund stock 2121 . 00 

For interest on deposits of state revenue 158.35 

Making $18,253.47 



346 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

The payments have been — 

For support of schools $9856 . 40 

For bank stock for permanent school fund.. . . 10,160.83 
For 100 maps of the state, which by law was 

payable out of the duty of one per cent paid 

into the treasury on the amount of the 

scheme of a lottery granted to J. S 1000.00 21,017.23 



The receipts fall short of the payments the sum of $2763 . 76 

Then follows his statement of the school fund as of May 1, 
1832, showing a balance of $12,501.88, from which the excess 
of payments for May, 1833, is deducted, leaving a balance of 
$9738.12 due from the state. The treasury balance of even 
date was $3975.23. 

His report closes with this appraisal of. the permanent school 

fund investments: 

The permanent school fund consists of — 

282 shares Mechanics Bank, at par, $50 $14,100.00 

500 shares, Globe Bank, at par, $50 25,000.00 



$39,100.00 

The cost of stock, that is, the actual investment, was 
,717.53. 



Financial Stress. — The reader who has had the patience to 
tread the intricacies of the array of figures already presented 
and who has gleaned from them the facts which indicate the 
nature of the financial problems with which state treasurers 
were dealing in the decade beginning with 1828, will find further 
information in the following comparison of treasury balances and 
balances due the school fund. The treasury balance in each 
instance is the cash actually in the Treasurer's strong box or 
subject to his draft. It should include the balance due the 
school fund, and, if the state were solvent, it should equal or 
exceed the latter. The larger balance in each instance is 
printed in black type; the predominance of black type in the 
school fund column shows at a glance the financial stress of the 



THE PERMANENT FUND. 347 

period. After 1831 school money reports were made annually 
in May, and in the table the school fund balances for October 
are omitted. 

School. State. School. State. 

May, 1828 . . $5484 . 48 $9815 . 60 October, 1828 . . $2520 . 25 $11,731 . 16 

May, 1829 . . 9054 . 58 8854 . 05 October, 1829 . . 909 . 05 5985 . 48 

May, 1830 . . 9838 . 29 7591 . 78 October, 1830 . . 4657 . 23 5115 . 32 

May, 1831.. 9546.48 2660.15 October, 1831. . 9105.68 6824.11 

May,1832.. 12,501.88 5758.43 Otcober, 1832 4114.58 

May, 1833 . . 9738 . 12 3975 . 23 October, 1833 5321 . 44 

May, 1834 . . 12,894 . 30 4097 . 02 October, 1834 12,523 . 56 

May, 1835. . 6570.80 6155.42 October, 1835 11,776.38 

May, 1836 . . 6700 . 87 7467 . 79 October, 1836 15,248 . 17 

May, 1837. . 10,636.90 13,185.24 October, 1837 

Treasury Empty. — In October, 1837, the General Treasurer 
reported that the state treasury was empty, and that he had 
borrowed from the Globe Bank $2816.92 to meet current de- 
mands. After 1837 treasury balances as reported are not true 
balances; they were more than counter-balanced by loans 
negotiated by the General Treasurer under statutory authority. 
The disappearance of the treasury balance in 1837 is explained 
by increased expenditures, the principal item of which was the 
cost of construction of a state prison on the site now occupied 
by the Rhode Island Normal School. 

In the table the October balances, generally, are more 
favorable to the state than are the May balances. So far as 
school money was concerned, the statements in October showed 
the fund reduced by payment of the bulk of the amount appor- 
tioned to the towns and payable after the preceding June 1. 
The showing in October is misleading. Unless an investment 
of funds were made between May and October, the school fund 
balance should, at least, equal the balance in May. It was 
entirely wrong to charge payments after May 1 to the school 
fund accumulated in the previous fiscal year. It will be remem- 
bered that the school law required a report on the condition 
of the school fund annually at the May session, and thus fixed 
the termination of the fiscal year at the end of April. Balances 



348 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

remaining in the fund April 30 should be invested for the per- 
manent fund, and payments to towns, beginning June 1, should 
be met from the revenue of the fiscal year in which they were 
made, any deficiency of revenue to be met from the general 
treasury. Treasurer Pitman's practice reversed the process 
prescribed by law, while his " bookkeeping " tended still further 
to obscure actual conditions. 

The Treasurer 1 s Report. — Treasurer Sterne, in his report to 
the May session, 1833, informed the General Assembly that the 
state owed the school fund $9728.12.* In 1834 a clear statement 
of the condition of the treasury was followed by a request that 
the General Assembly instruct him with reference to future 
procedure. His statement shows receipts for the year from all 
sources of school revenue amounting to $13,267.72, and pay- 
ments of $10,111.54 to town treasurers, leaving an excess of 
school revenue for the year of $3156.18. Then follows this 
comment : 

"It appears from the preceding statements, there is sufficient 
money now in the treasury to invest the unexpended balance 
of the school money received during the year, but there would 
remain only the sum of $940.84. 

"Although that portion of the revenue of the year which is 
applicable to defray the current expenses has exceeded by 
about $600 the revenue derived from the same sources in the 
year ending in April, 1833, still there is a deficiency of $3034.39. 

. . . Within the first fortnight of the present financial 
year the demands on the treasury for salaries, pay of the mem- 
bers of the General Assembly and other claims will amount to 
about $4500. The receipts during the same time, exclusive 
of school money, cannot be relied upon to exceed $2500, which 
will leave the treasury in such condition, if the balance of the 
school money of the past year is invested immediately, as the 
law requires, that a payment of a portion of the demands upon 
it must be postponed until sufficient revenue of the present 
year can be collected to pay them. 

"The disposable revenue of the state, or that portion of it 
which is alone applicable to defray current expenses, has not 
in any year since the establishment of public schools, except 

* The amount should be $9738.12. 



THE PERMANENT FUND. 349 

the year ending in April, 1833, been sufficient for that purpose. 
In consequence of which, it has been the practice to supply the 
deficiency out of the revenue set apart for support of schools, 
until the sum thus applied to the payment of expenses for 
which they were not intended amounts, in April, 1833, to 
$9728.12, and if the surplus of the past year is not invested, 
amount now to $12,884.30* This practice is not authorized 
by any existing law; yet the fact of its having so many times 
met the approbation of and been sanctioned by the General 
Assembly furnishes just ground of doubt as to which course 
the General Treasurer ought to pursue. I, therefore, respect- 
fully request the General Assembly to instruct me whether the 
unexpended balance of the school money received during the 
year just ended, shall be added to the permanent school fund 
or applied to the payment of any claim against the state that 
may be presented. . . ." 

At the June session, 1834, the committee on accounts, to 

which had been referred the Treasurer's report, supplemented 

its certificate of accuracy with this reference to the Treasurer's 

statement : 

"The committee deem it to be within the range of the duties 
assigned to them to report to the General Assembly that to 
meet the ordinary expenses of the state, the General Treasurer 
has been obliged to use a large amount belonging to the school 
fund. The committee find that no investment of money be- 
longing to the school fund has been made since 1832; and that 
on the 30th day of April, 1834, there appears to have been 
diverted from its appropriate object the sum of $12,894.30 of 
the school fund, which has been from time to time, during a 
period of several years, expended in meeting the ordinary 
demands upon the treasury. The committee wish it to be 
distinctly understood that in this matter they attach no blame 
to any one. The remedy for the evil suggested is in the hands 
of the legislature, and the application of that remedy ought, in 
the opinion of your committee, to be promptly made." 

The General Assembly Apathetic. — The problem was thus 
placed squarely before the General Assembly. One of two 
remedies was available if the General Assembly would change 
the practice forced upon the Treasurer. It might either order 
repayment of the balances due the school fund, recouping the 
general treasury by levying new or increased taxes or by nego- 

* The figures should be $9738.12 and $12,894.30. 



350 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

tiating a loan; or it might amend the law governing the accumu- 
lation of the permanent school fund. The General Assembly 
chose neither remedy; it did nothing. In the light of history 
in subsequent years the General Assembly had been too gen- 
erous, probably, in drafting the act of 1828, but it was not 
prepared to amend that law. The provision for an annual 
distribution of $10,000 for aid to public schools was within the 
revenue, but the state was scarcely able to dispeEse altogether 
with the revenue specifically set aside for the permanent school 
fund. Without attempting to palliate the weakness which the 
General Assemblies of the later portion of the period under review 
displayed in dealing with this financial problem, one cannot fail 
to appreciate the generous spirit with which the state undertook 
in 1828 to provide aid for public schools. 

In October, 1834, the General Treasurer again called attention 
to the condition of the treasury; his tone was more optimistic 
than earlier in the same year. He wrote: 

"The petitioners for the lottery granted at the last January 
session having neglected to comply with the conditions of the 
grant, there is not at present any lottery from which a revenue 
is derived. 

"It is estimated that the whole of the revenue of the present 
financial year appropriated by law for the support of public 
schools will not exceed $5500, which will leave a deficiency of 
$4500 to be paid out of other money. 

"That portion of the revenue of the present year which is 
applicable to defray the current expenses will so much exceed 
the revenue derived from the same source of any former year 
that, with the addition of the balance in the treasury on the 
30th of April last, the deficiency in this year's school money 
can be supplied, the unexpended balance of last year's school 
money be invested, and, unless the current expenses of the state 
shall be increased to an extraordinary amount, there will remain 
in the treasury on the 30th of April, 1835, a balance of about 
$3000." 

The receipts from lotteries in 1834-5, as predicted by the 
treasurer, declined, but, as a new licensee for a state lottery 
was found, $5000 was realized from this source. School reve- 



THE PERMANENT FUND. 351 

nues for the year amounted to $8192.72, leaving a balance of 
$1807.28 to be taken from the general treasury to round out 
the $10,000 to be apportioned to the towns. The towns re- 
ceived $9967.94. The treasurer bought 122 shares of Globe 
Bank stock for the school fund, paying $6323.50 therefor, and 
reduced the state's indebtedness to the school fund to $6570.80. 
In 1835-6 receipts of school revenue were $13,626.41, payments 
for the support of schools were $9824.34, and for 72 shares of 
Globe Bank stock, bought as an investment, $3672. The 
excess of revenue over payments was $130.07, and the state's 
indebtedness^ was increased that much, standing at $6700.87. 
In the following year receipts exceeded expenditures by $3936.03 
making the state's indebtedness $10,636.90. 

The Fund Disappears. — In May, 1837, the treasury balance 
was $13,185.24, and the school fund was, therefore, in the 
treasury, but in October, 1837, the treasury was empty. The 
uninvested portion of the school fund had been used to liquidate 
current liabilities of the state, part of which arose from the 
building of the new state prison. 

In 1839 a new General Treasurer, William S. Nichols, re- 
ported the purchase of 50 shares of Mechanics Bank stock at a 
cost of $2689.17, but that the school revenue for the year 
1838-9 still exceeded payments by $1150.55. He also reported 
that a careful examination of receipts and expenditures, made 
at the request of the finance committee, showed a balance of 
$14,675.75 due the school fund on April 30, 1838. This balance 
is $52.97 in excess of the amount reported by General Treasurer 
Sterne; the nature of the error in previous reports was not 
disclosed by Treasurer Nichols, and it does not appear in the 
Schedules. Treasurer Sterne, who returned to office in 1839, 
reverted to the $14,622.78 reported in his earlier statement. 
The excess of revenue in 1838-9 carried the fund to $15,826.30, 
according to Nichols, or $15,773.33, according to Sterne. 



352 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

The table on page 344, recapitulating the operation of the 
school act of 1828 as a financial measure, may be extended to 
cover the period from 1832 to 1839, as follows: 

Receipts. 

Excess to 1832 $12,501.88 

To May, 1833 18,253.47 

To May, 1834 13,267. 72 

To May, 1835 8,192.72 

To May, 1836 13,626.41 

To May, 1837 14,047. 57 

To May, 1838 14,017. 94 

To May, 1839 13,985.24 



Total $107,892.95 

Lottery tax remitted.. . . 1,000.00 



Payments. 




To towns, 1833 


. $9,856.40 


To towns, 1834. . . 


. 10,111.54 


To towns, 1835 


*8,192.72 


To towns, 1836 


9,824.34 


To towns, 1837 


. 10,111.54 


To towns, 1838 


10,032.06 


To towns, 1839 


10,145.52 


Total to towns 


. $68,274.12 


Investments \ . 


$22,845.50 


Total payments .... 


$91,119.62 



Net $106,892.95 

Less payments 91,119.62 



State's debt $15,773.33 



*Towns received $9967.94, the excess being charged to the general treasury. 

In the 12 years from 1828 to 1839 the revenue applicable to 
public schools had amounted to $177,416.72, of which $108,241.19 
had been paid to towns and $53,402.20 had been invested in stock 
for the permanent school fund. In 1839 the permanent fund 
investment consisted of 332 shares of stock of the Mechanics 
Bank, par value, $16,600; and 694 shares of stock of the Globe 
Bank, par value, $34,700; total, $51,300. The state owed the 
school fund the uninvested balance, amounting to $15,773.33. 

" Conservator of the School Fund." — While it is anticipating the 
story of the permanent school fund under a new law, and under 
a treasurer with a distinctly novel theory of finance, it is per- 
missible to round out at this point the administration of John 
Sterne, which ended in 1840, with the relevant portions of his 
last report. This showed an excess of revenue in 1839-40 
applicable to the permanent school fund of $3932.79, which 
brought the indebtedness of the state to the school fund on 
April 30, 1840, to $19,706.12. 



THE PERMANENT FUND. 353 

Throughout his administration John Sterne had been a con- 
scientious conservator of the permanent school fund. On taking 
office he had rectified the errors of his predecessor. He had 
credited to the fund every dollar of revenue belonging to it. 
He had reported to the General Assembly the financial em- 
barrassment produced by a revenue inadequate to meet the 
current general expenses of the state. He had invested treasury 
balances for the fund whenever these were available. His was 
an honorable record. He well deserves the title "Conservator 
of the School Fund." 

A NEW LAW. A NEW TREASURER. A NEW 
POLICY. 

A fresh epoch in the history of the permanent school fund 
opens with the election of Stephen Cahoone as General Treasurer 
in 1840, but its beginnings reach back to an earlier period. In 
1836 Congress voted to deposit the surplus revenue of the 
United States in the treasuries of the several states, subject to 
recall and repayment upon demand. At the October session 
in the same year the General Assembly authorized the General 
Treasurer to receive Rhode Island's allotment of the "public 
deposits," appointed a commission to loan the money to the 
state banks at five per cent, interest, and, under the leadership 
of Thomas Wilson Dorr, then a Representative from Provi- 
dence, voted that the income from the deposit money should be 
distributed to the towns of the state in the same ratio as the 
school money, to be used exclusively for the support of public 
schools. 

Law of 1839. — In 1839 a new school law was enacted, the 
sections governing the permanent school fund being as follows: 

Sec. 1. The annual income of money deposited, or that 
may be deposited, with this state by the United States in pur- 
suance of "An Act to Regulate Deposits of the Public Money," 
passed by the Congress of the United States and approved 
June 23, 1836, shall annually be paid over to the several towns 



354 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

for the purpose of maintaining public schools, in manner here- 
after provided. 

Sec. 2. To the money derived from said source shall be 
annually added enough from any money in the treasury not 
otherwise specially appropriated, to make up the sum of $25,000, 
to be annually paid out for the purpose aforesaid. The money 
received by the state from managers of lotteries or their agents, 
or from auctioneers for auction duties accruing to the state, shall 
be hereafter annually appropriated to pay the debt now due 
from the general treasury to the permanent school fund, until 
said debt is paid: After which time the revenue derived from 
these sources shall be applied to the increase of said fund. . . . 

Sec. 26. All general acts heretofore passed relating to the 
public schools excepting so much of the eighth section of "An 
Act to Establish Public Schools," passed at the January session, 
A. D. 1828, which relates to the permanant school fund, as is not 
inconsistent with this act, are hereby repealed: Provided, that 
everything done under said act shall be valid, and all things 
omitted or neglected to be done shall be punished by the same 
penalties and forfeitures as if this act had not been passed. 

Its Interpretation. — Under the act of 1828 the sources of 
increase of the permanent school fund had been : 1. The excess 
of revenue from managers of lotteries and auctioneers over 
$10,000 annually. 2. Dividends earned on investments of the 
permanent school fund, except so much of these as might be 
neeeded in any year to round out an even $10,000 of school 
revenue. Treasurer Sterne had added to the fund, temporarily, 
portions of the annual apportionment unclaimed by the towns, 
and also interest on deposits of the state revenue in the period 
when treasury balances were insufficient to pay the indebted- 
ness of the state to the school fund. The new act made the 
income from the public deposits a primary source of school 
revenue, and provided for the repayment of the state's debt 
to the permanent school fund from the revenue derived from 
auctions and lotteries, and the application of this revenue 
thereafter to the increase of the fund. With civic sentiment 
crystallizing in opposition to lotteries, it seemed unlikely that 
these would continue for many years longer a prolific source of 
income; the new Constitution of 1842-3 abolished lotteries. 
So much of the law as referred to lotteries and auctions is clear ; 



THE PERMANENT FUND. 355 

what 'disposition had the General Assembly provided for the 
income from investments of the permanent school fund? This 
source of revenue was not mentioned specifically in the act of 
1839, but it seems reasonably certain that section 26 of that act 
carried into the new law so much of section 8 of the act of 1828 
as provided for the addition of income from the fund to the fund 
itself. This was the construction placed upon the act of 1839 
by Treasurer Sterne, whose statement in 1840 showed : Income 
from public deposit money, $18,991.14, to which must be added 
$6008.86 from the general treasury to make $25,000 for appor- 
tionment. The permanent school fund earned dividends 
amounting to $3591, and the deposited state revenue earned 
interest amounting to $446.95, which, less payment of arrears of 
apportionments, netted $3932.79 applicable to increasing the 
permanent school fund, making the state's debt to the latter on 
April 30, 1840, $19,706.12. Lotteries yielded $9000, and 
auctioneers paid $682.75 into the treasury, making the amount 
"appropriated to pay the debt now due from the general treas- 
ury to the permanent school fund" $9682.75. Of this sum the 
treasurer reported that he had applied $4181.66 to the payment 
of current expenses of the state, and that he held the balance 
$5501.09 in the treasury, that being all the money on hand 
except interest on the public deposits. Treasurer Sterne, 
unable to comply with the law's requirement, reported the 
fact. It remained for his successor in office to invent a method 
of repaying the state's indebtedness to the school fund with 
revenue no more adequate — less adequate, indeed — to meet 
the demands upon the state treasury. 

How the State "Repaid" its Debt. — Treasurer Cahoone's first 
report of the operation of the school act is as follows: 

Interest and dividends on public deposits $17,0S4.27 

Interest on deposits of state revenue 720 . 13 

Dividends on permanent school fund stock 4303 . 00 

Revenue not otherwise appropriated 2892 . 6TJ 

Total school appropriation $25,000 . 00 



356 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

Received from managers of lotteries $9000 . 00 

Received from auctioneers for duties 274 . 85 

Total $9274.85 

Deduct deficit in school revenue 2892 . 60 

Balance applicable to debt of state to school fund $6382 . 25 

Debt due from state April 30, 1840 19,706. 12 

Net indebtedness April 30, 1841 $13,323.87 

It will be noted that the Treasurer added to the interest earned 
on public deposits, the dividends on stock held for the perma- 
nent school fund and interest on deposits of the state revenue, 
altogether $5023.13, which should have been credited to in- 
creasing the school fund. He reduced the revenue from lot- 
teries and auctions applicable to payment of the debt to the 
school fund, by the amount taken from the general treasury to 
round out the annual school appropriation of $25,000. The 
reason for this does not appear in his report, but probably he 
considered the $2892.60 taken from the general treasury as 
part of the lottery and auction money. He then charged off 
the debt due to the school fund the amount received from 
auctions and lotteries, thus reduced, $6382.25; but there is 
nothing to show that $6382.25, or any other sum, was actually 
used to pay this debt, or set aside for the school fund, or in- 
vested. 

Fearful Finance. — The man who saves five dollars per week 
from his wages by opening a new account on his books, and who 
finishes the year with $260 saved but with no more money in 
hand than at the beginning, would have done only half of what 
Treasurer Cahoone had accomplished. If the same man had 
set aside five dollars per week to pay his debts, and had can- 
celled these merely by transfer of accounts and still had not 
parted with a penny, he would have paralleled the feat of Treas- 
urer Cahoone — but would have a host of creditors at his doors. 
As a matter of fact, Treasurer Cahoone had not paid any part 



THE PERMANENT FUND. 357 

of the state's indebtedness to the school fund, the cancellation 
of which he began thus systematically in 1841. In the light 
of this understanding of his altogether novel financial policy, 
his scruple in deducting from the auction and lottery money the 
amount taken to make up the school appropriation is inex- 
plicable, and almost as ridiculous a blunder as Treasurer Pit- 
man's double credit of income in 1830. Recapitulating briefly: 
Treasurer Cahoone had diverted from the school fund $5023.13 
of money by law appropriated to its increase, and he had can- 
celled $6382.25 of the debt due the school fund without actual 
repayment. His dereliction might well have amounted to 
$2892.60 more! 

The report of 1842 shows a further similar "reduction" in the 
state's indebtedness to $8672.77. No doubt the indebtedness 
would have been cancelled completely within the ensuing year 
or two had not the treasurer after 1842 made his reports in 
conformity to an act passed at the June session, 1842, 
section 3 of which directed that "The General Treasurer 
shall present with his semi-annual report at every May session, 
in addition to the statements now or hereinbefore required, a 
statement of the receipts and expenditures for the whole of the 
preceding year, classified according to law. He shall also 
report at every May session the receipts and expenditures on 
account of schools, and the school fund, under appropriate 
heads, together with the state and amount of said fund, and 
how the same is invested. . . ." The Treasurer's report 
for 1843 contained a statement of receipts and expenditures on 
account of schools, and of the condition and amount of the 
permanent school fund, that is, a list of and the par value of 
stocks held therefor. But in the report there was no mention 
of receipts and expenditures on account of the school fund. 
Perhaps the Treasurer interpreted the law with emphasis on 
the comma after schools, making "and the school- fund" a 



358 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

direct object of "report," instead of object of the preposition 
"of." 

The subsequent annual reports of Treasurer Cahoone, from 
1844 to 1851, were similar in form to the report for 1843. The 
permanent school fund appeared in each report as consisting 
of bank stock valued at $51,300. Each annual report was 
"audited" and approved by a committee of the General 
Assembly. 

An Honest Man, Nevertheless. — In May, 1851, Mr. Cahoone 
closed his final report as General Treasurer with this statement : 

"The balance in the treasury on the 23rd ultimo, as above 
stated, appears to be but $2611.92, when in fact there was in 
the treasury $8067.31, which last-mentioned sum I am ready 
to pay to my successor. My health for some months past has 
been so poor that I have not been able to make that thorough 
search to discover the error that I otherwise would have done. 
It is confidently believed that the error will be detected when 
my account shall be audited, and that it will be found to have 
originated in inadvertant omission to enter credits to the 
amount of the error." 

Under date of May 31, 1851, the auditing committee reported 
to the January session, 1852, that it was unable to detect the 
error, and added: 

"The committee deem it to be nothing more than an act 
of simple justice to say that notwithstanding the very ad- 
vanced age of Mr. Cahoone, the late General Treasurer, and 
the severe indisposition he labored under for nearly the whole 
of the past year, the duties of the office have been well dis- 
charged, and with the same stern and unwavering fidelity that 
characterized all his official conduct during the ten consecutive 
years he held the office. 

"The committee consider it to be not altogether out of place 
for them, now and here, to urge upon the General Assembly 
the indispensable necessity there is for the creation of the 
office of auditor of accounts. The great security the state would 
derive from the services of such an officer, not only against 
frauds, but against unintentional errors and mistakes of every 
kind, must be so obvious to every business man as to render an 
argument in favor of establishing such an office altogether 
unnecessary. 



THE PERMANENT FUND. 359 

"We have now presented a striking and impressive instance 
directly in point. If Stephen Cahoone, the late General 
Treasurer, had not been a man of tried and acknowledged 
integrity, he might have appropriated to his own use the large 
amount of money found in the treasury over and above the 
cash balance his accounts exhibited, without the fact, in all 
probability, ever coming to the knowledge of at least this 
General Assembly." 

Mr. Cahoone's successor in office received $8067.31 from the 
outgoing treasurer, and the legislative record in the Schedules 
is closed apparently with the auditing committee's commenda- 
tion of Treasurer Cahoone. The integrity and honesty of 
the latter never were seriously questioned. There were, how- 
ever, irregularities in his accounts, and he had not dealt with 
the school fund in a manner to warrant approval. 

AN INVESTIGATION OFF THE RECORD. 

The following resolution appears in the Schedules for the 
October session, 1851: 

"The House of Representatives having learned information 
that a committee appointed by the Honorable Senate at the 
last June session to make certain examinations in relation to 
the General Treasurer's office, has reported, among other 
things, that there has been misapplication of the funds of the 
state to a very large amount, and the House not being aware of 
any misapplication of the public money; therefore, 

"Resolved, That the Honorable Senate be respectfully 
requested to send said report to the House, in order that the 
same may be read for the information of the members previous 
to the printing of the same." 

There is in the Schedules no further mention of the report 
referred to. In the Manufacturers and Farmers Journal for 
November 1, 1851, it was stated that the report was received 
from the Senate and read in the House. It was then moved 
that the House have the report printed, and the motion was 
debated. Friends of Mr. Cahoone opposed the motion on the 
ground that his integrity was attacked by insinuation. The 
Senate was criticised for undertaking an investigation of the 



360 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN EHODE ISLAND. 

treasury without concurrence by the House. The House was 
Whig and the Senate was Democratic, and the action of the 
Senate was interpreted as an attempt to reopen the contro- 
versies attending the Dorr war. At the close of the debate in 
the House the motion was withdrawn, and the ' report was 
returned to the Senate on the same day, October 31, 1851, the 
last day of the October session. 

In the Senate Journal, under date of October 31, 1851, this 
entry appears: "Report in part of committee on finance 
received and consideration thereof continued to January session, 
1852. Subsequently said vote became rescinded and it was 
voted to have 500 copies printed and distributed among the 
members." 

A Report that Cannot be Found. — No copy of the Senate com- 
mittee's report is known to exist. The Manufacturers and 
Farmers Journal of later date commented upon and severely 
condemned the report, which "we have seen," as a political 
expedient of the Democrats. From the Journal article it 
appears that the report dealt principally with Mr. Cahoone's 
administration of the school money and charged him with 
misapplying $82,487.96, which should have been credited to the 
permanent school fund. The Journal placed responsibility 
for this irregularity, which it did not admit was an irregularity, 
upon the General Assembly, which it then excused from blame 
because by using money in the treasury the necessity for levying 
additional taxes had been avoided. In its zealous defence of the 
Whigs the newspaper declared that subsequent action of the 
General Assembly had, in fact, although without direct and 
explicit resolution, repealed and nullified the provisions of the 
school law directing accumulation of the school fund; that is, 
that when appropriations exceeded the general treasury bal- 
ance, law sanctioned payment of appropriations from any money 
in the treasury. Modern theories of public finance make appro- 
priations charges only upon money not otherwise appropriated. 



THE PERMANENT FUND. 361 

The Journal reduced the error in accounting to $80,385.76, by 
pointing out that a difference of $2102.20 in the statement of 
the value of the stock held for the permanent school fund arose 
from the practice of listing the stock at its par value, $51,300, 
instead of the actual cost, which had been $53,402.20. 

Further indication of the contents of the committee report 
may be gleaned from a later report of the same committee made 
to the Senate at the January session, 1852, the same which 
received the report of an auditing committee exonerating and 
commending Treasurer Cahoone. The later report was printed 
as a separate Senate document, and does not appear in the 
Schedules. A copy of it is in the Rhode Island State Library. 
The relevant portions are as follows, quotation being liberal, 
because the report sets forth facts which explain the problems 
of the period, and which could not fail to influence the action of 
the General Treasurer and the General Assembly: 

"Since the report by them made at the last October session 
of the General Assembly your committee's investigation of 
the affairs of the treasury has been chiefly limited to the ascer- 
taining and preparing a detailed statement of the expenditures, 
ordinary and extraordinary, of the State from Oct. 1, 1841, to 
the said session of June, 1851. . . . 

"The Honorable Senate does not require to be informed by 
the committee that the reports and accounts of the General 
Treasurer annually undergo the scrutiny of a committee of 
the General Assembly called the committee on audit, and, 
having once passed such an ordeal, might safely be deemed 
correct and incapable of containing any error, especially one 
of such magnitude as $5000 or $6000. And yet, the committee, 
in the preparation of said tabular statement, did detect a num- 
ber of errors that had obviously, up to that time, escaped ob- 
servation or remark. But the greatest embarrassment has 
been experienced from a want of uniformity in the classification, 
form and order in which the accounts and reports have been 
annually and semi-annually made up and submitted to the 
General Assembly; it is believed that no two of them are in 
those respects alike. . . . 

"Another and very serious difficulty with which the com- 
mittee, in the investigation of some portion of the extraordinary 
expenses of the state, have been met, is the absence from the 
office of the Treasurer and the Secretary of State of most of 



362 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

the vouchers, or documents used as such, in proof of the great 
bulk of said expenses, termed by the political party then in 
power 'insurrectionary' expenses, and which occurred in the 
years 1842 and 1843. 

"At a special session of the General Assembly in April, 1842, a 
Governor's council . . . was appointed to advise and consult 
with Governor King in relation to state affairs, and to continue 
in their offices until the further order of the General Assembly, 
and that by and with the advice of such, his council, he, the 
Governor, might draw from the treasury such sums as he might 
require for the use of the state. . . . About $56,000 were 
drawn on orders of Governor King alone and supported by no 
sort of vouchers. . . . By an act of the June session, 1842, 
Messrs. . . . were appointed a board of commissioners 
' to receive, examine and audit all the claims against the state 
that have occurred by reason of the recent insurrection, other 
than for military services.' . . . Payment was made by 
the orders of the commissioners themselves on the General 
Treasury in favor of the claimants individually. . . . All 
that the public, after the lapse of about ten years, is permitted 
to know ... is that the state is indebted to the public 
deposit fund for these extraordinary expenditures . . . the 
extraordinary sum (for Rhode Island) of over $194,000, and 
during the same period of time, has, in addition thereto, mis- 
applied about $80,000 rightfully belonging to the permanent 
school fund of the state. . . . 

"The committee have before said that they had detected 
some errors in the accounts and reports of the General Treas- 
urer, that probably had escaped all previous notice; they do 
not, however, mean to be understood as asserting positively 
that they have even now discovered the precise cause of there 
being in the treasury such a sum as over $5000 of which the 
Treasurer should be entirely ignorant and not know the time 
when or the source whence the same had been received, but 
will state such facts as have come to their knowledge from the 
investigation they have. made, from which the committee, as 
they think, justly infer that errors have been committed in 
the treasury account of equal, if not greater, amount than that 
of the above-mentioned unexplained surplus. . . ." 

The report continued with an analysis of certain irregular 
entries in the reports of the State Treasurer, which showed 
careless bookkeeping, at any rate. Accompanying the report 
was a table of receipts and expenditures for the period from 
1841 to 1851, inclusive. 



THE PERMANENT FUND. 363 

The "insurrection" referred to in the report was the Dorr 
war. Rhode Island from 1663 to 1843 was governed under a 
royal charter granted by Charles II. of England. On May 4, 
1776, the General Assembly formally renounced allegiance to 
Great Britain. In 1795 the General Assembly rejected a 
memorial for a state constitution, and propositions relative to 
calling a constitutional convention failed of adoption in 1797 
and 1799. The freemen of the state in 1821 and 1822 rejected 
propositions to appoint delegates to a constitutional convention, 
and in 1824 rejected a constitution drafted in a convention 
authorized by the General Assembly. A convention in 1834 
failed to complete its work, In March, 1842, the freemen 
rejected the "Landholders' Constitution," drafted by a con- 
vention authorized by the General Assembly. At a mass 
meeting in Providence on May 5, 1841, the people of the state 
directed the calling of a convention, which met in the State 
House, framed and submitted to the people, freemen and non- 
freemen, the " People's Constitution." The vote was favorable, 
and Thomas Wilson Dorr was elected Governor under the 
People's Constitution. The Charter Government suppressed, 
without bloodshed, Dorr's attempt to exercise the powers of 
his office as an insurrection against the authority of the state. 
In November, 1842, the freemen ratified the present Constitu- 
tion of the state, adopted in convention at East Greenwich. 
The Constitution of 1842, still in force, though many times 
amended, contains this provision safeguarding the permanent 
school fund: 

Article XII, Section 2. "The money which now is or which 
may hereafter be appropriated by law for the establishment 
of a permanent fund for the support of public schools, shall be 
securely invested, and remain a perpetual fund for that purpose. 

Section 4. "The General Assembly shall make all necessary 
provisions by law for carrying this article into effect. They 
shall not divert said money or fund from the aforesaid uses, 
nor borrow, appropriate or use the same, or any part thereof, 
for any other purpose, under any pretence whatsoever." 



364 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

The Constitution, between friends, had not prevented the 
General Assembly from spending and the General Treasurer 
from transferring to the general treasury account money appro- 
priated for the permanent school fund, but not actually invested 
in it! 

An Analysis. — Returning to the two reports of the finance 
committee of the Senate, and the Journal's comment upon one 
of them, the fact of greatest significance for the permanent 
school fund is the committee's charge that about $80,000 
rightfully belonging to the permanent school fund had been 
misapplied. The exact figure, $82,487.96, or as corrected by 
the Journal, $80,385.76, furnishes a key to the information on 
which the accusation was based. Receipts of revenue from 
lotteries, auctions, dividends on school fund stocks and interest 
on deposits of state revenue, from 1841 to- 1851, total exactly 
,385.76, the corrected committee figure, as follows : 



Lotteries. Auctions. Dividends. Interest. Total. 

1841 $9000 . 00 $274 . 85 $4303 . 00 $720 . 13 $14,297 . 98 

1842 9000.00 180.15 3844.00 320.00 13,344.15 

1843 9000.00 52.47 3078.00 100.00 12,230.47 

1844 6750.00 34.92 2565.00 333.60 9680.52 

1845 101.99 2482.00 64.08 2648.07 

1846 965.30 2986.50 3950.80 

1847 1785.06 3167.00 276.48 5228.54 

1848 1837.30 3202.50 5039.80 

1849 1254.92 3244.00 4498.92 

1850 1234.26 3334.50 4568.76 

1851 1157.93 3591.00 148.82 4897.78 



Total $33,750.00 $8878. 15 $35,797.50 $1960.11 $80,385.76 

Analysis of Treasurer Cahoone's earliest report, that for 1841, 
has demonstrated that he applied no part of the school revenue 
appropriated to the school fund to that purpose. His report for 
1842 was similar in character, and from 1843 to 1851 he reported 
the permanent school fund as consisting of $51,300 worth of 
stock, without crediting to it any increase. The finance com- 
mittee was justified, therefore, in charging Treasurer Cahoone 



THE PERMANENT FUND. 365 

with misapplying the school fund revenue, and, if the law had 
remained without change from 1841 to 1851, the amount of the 
misapplication by Treasurer Cahoone was stated accurately. 

THE STATE'S UNACKNOWLEDGED DEBT TO THE 

FUND. 

The law had been changed, however, and, besides that, the 
committee report was not a complete statement of the state's 
indebtedness to the permanent school fund in 1851. 

With the purpose of drafting an accurate statement of the 
state's indebtedness to the permanent school fund in 1851, it is 
necessary to go back to Treasurer Sterne's last report, that for 
1840. The state's debt for the fiscal year ending April 30, 
1839, had been $15,773.33. The school law of 1839 provided 
for the payment of this debt from the revenue derived from 
auctions and lotteries, and the application of the same revenue 
in subsequent years to the increase of the fund. Actually the 
law of 1839 cancelled the debt of $15,773.33— not immediately 
upon the passage of the act, but when the new revenue appro- 
priated to the purpose equalled the old debt. The cancellation 
was not, however, a repudiation, because the General Assembly 
applied to the school fund the entire revenue from lotteries 
and auctions, undiminished, as previously, by a charge of 
$10,000 for the support of public schools. That is, practically, 
a new source of revenue was ordered applied to liquidation of 
the debt. 

The debt may be ignored in this calculation, because the time 
of cancellation is not material. Practically, therefore, a fresh 
school fund account may be opened for 1839, with the state's 
indebtedness zero and $51,300 worth of stock held as an invest- 
ment. With such a base it is not necessary to distinguish 
between revenue applicable to pay an outstanding debt and 
revenue applicable to increase of the fund, all going for the 
latter purpose. Therefore, all the revenue from auctions, 



366 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

lotteries, dividends and interest belongs to the permanent school 
fund, and the $3932.79 applicable to increase, and $9682.75 
applicable to payment of the debt, as distinguished by Treas- 
urer Sterne, combined, make the state's indebtedness on April 
30, 1840, $13,615.54. As shown by the table*, the additions 
for five following years are $14,297.98 for 1841, $13,344.15 for 
1842, $12,230.47 for 1843, $9680.52 for 1844, and $2648.07 for 
1845, making the state's indebtedness to the permanent school 
fund $65,816.73 on April 30, 1845. 

The school act of June, 1845, section 2, provided: "For the 
encouragement and maintenance of public schools in the several 
towns and cities of the state, in the manner hereinafter pre- 
scribed, the sum of $25,000 is hereby annually appropriated out 
of the annual avails of the school fund, and of the money de- 
posited with the state by the United States, and of other money 
not otherwise appropriated. . . ." This was the Barnard 
act; it was framed, no doubt, to accord with the contempo- 
raneous treasury practice. Henry Barnard, apparently, did 
not investigate the law governing the permanent school fund; 
neither did the Senate's finance committee, nor the Treasurers 
who succeeded Stephen Cahoone, as will appear later. The 
plain intent of the school law of 1845 was to turn the dividends 
on school fund stock and interest on the state revenue, from the 
school fund into the appropriation for the support of public 
schools. Treasurer Cahoone's practice in this respect was not 
erroneous after 1845. 

The school act of 1845 provided also, in section 27, that "all 
general acts and resolutions heretofore passed relating to public 
schools . . . are hereby repealed," and, in section 28, that 
"this act shall not take effect till after the next session of the 
General Assembly (October, 1845), and in the meantime the 
existing laws relative to public schools shall continue in force." 
These sections repealed the school law of 1839, under which 
receipts from auctions and lotteries accrued to the permanent 

*Page 364. 



THE PERMANENT FUND. 367 

school fund. After October, 1845, therefore, there was abso- 
lutely no provision in the law for the increase of the perma- 
nent school fund. To the debt already accumulated should be 
added, however, receipts of all classes of school fund money 
from May, 1845, to October, 1845, as follows: Dividends, 
$1365.50; auctions, $289.92; total, $1655.42, making the state's 
debt to the school fund $67,472.15, on October 1, 1845. Stephen 
Cahoone's misapplication of school fund revenue amounted to 
$53,856.61. The unacknowledged indebtedness of the state 
was in part liquidated by Mr. Cahoone's successors in office. 

ERRORS THAT FAVORED THE SCHOOL FUND. 

The school act of 1851, section 2, provided that "The sum of 
$35,000 shall annually be paid out of the income of the school 
fund, deposits of surplus revenue and other money in the general 
treasury, for the support of public schools . . ." thus 
continuing the disposition of school fund dividends made by 
the act of 1845. Otherwise it did not mention the permanent 
school fund. The* report of the Senate finance committee, 
presented in the same year and already discussed, had an effect 
as striking almost as the irregularities which it had disclosed. 
The new General Treasurer, Edwin Wilbur, renewed the prac- 
tice of carrying an account with the permanent school fund 
and of adding to it — although there was, in 1851 and thereafter 
until 1857, no law setting apart any portion of the state revenue 
for the purpose, except an act passed in 1848 directing the General 
Treasurer to transfer to the permanent school fund the share 
in the school money of any town which failed to appropriate 
the amount required by law. 

Treasurer Wilbur in 1852, 1853 and 1854 credited to the per- 
manent school fund $16,094.48, derived from interest on deposits 
of the revenue, dividends on permanent school fund stock, 
auctions, interest on deposits of the revenue which he was 
setting apart for the fund, and the sale of a right to buy stock 



368 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

issued as a dividend on stock already held. He purchased 194 
shares of the Bank of North America, at a cost of $10,086.38, 
leaving $6008.10 due the school fund, according to his account, 
of which $5987.56 was deposited as a separate account and 
$20.54 was due from the treasury. 

The school act of 1854 appropriated $50,000 for the support of 
public schools, without specifying the sources of revenue; but 
it did not, as a repealing act, revive any earlier act disposing 
of the earlier sources of school fund revenue. 

Samuel B. Vernon, who succeeded Edwin Wilbur as General 
Treasurer in 1854, likewise administered the school fund in 
accordance with custom rather than law. He reported the con- 
dition of the permanent fund in 1855 as follows: Total receipts 
to April 30, 1854, $16,094.48; less $113.70 and interest, $5.99, 
an item twice credited, leaving $15,974.79; dividends $4270, 
interest on deposited revenue $970, auctions $842.67, interest 
on money deposited for school fund $160; total increase for 
year $6242.67. He deposited $6082.67 to the credit of the 
fund, which was then indebted $99.15 to the state. In May, 
1856, Samuel A. Parker, as Treasurer, reported the permanent 
school fund as follows : 

694 shares of Globe Bank, Providence $34,700.00 

332 shares of Mechanics Bank, Providence 16,600.00 

434 shares of Bank of North America, Providence 22,594 . 38 

Total $73,894.38 

Due from permanent school fund 376 . 92 

Net $73,517.46 

The invested fund had been increased by the purchase of 240 
shares of stock of National Bank of North America, costing 
$12,508.00. 

The movement inaugurated by Treasurer Wilbur and con- 
tinued four years had carried to the fund, therefore, $22,594.38 
of money not appropriated to it by law. The movement had 



THE PERMANENT FUND. 369 

stopped, temporarily, for the Schedules show no change in the 
school fund report until 1859. If the amount thus credited 
without law be treated as a payment and deducted from the 
earlier indebtedness, $67,472.15, the state on April 30, 1856, 
still owed the permanent school fund $44,877.77. 

THE FOUNDATION OF THE PRESENT LAW. 

The Revised Statutes of Rhode Island, 1857, in effect July 1, 
1857, contained a chapter entitled " Of the Permanent School 
Fund," which is the basis of the present law. It follows : 

Section 1. The General Treasurer, with the advice of the 
Governor, shall have full power to regulate the custody and 
safe-keeping of the fund now constituting the permanent fund 
for the support of public schools, and to keep the same securely 
invested in the capital stock of some safe and responsible bank 
or banks within this State.* 

Section 2. The money that shall be paid into the state 
treasury by auctioneers for duties accruing to the use of the 
state, is hereby appropriated, and the same shall annually be 
added to said school fund for the permanent increase thereof. f 

Section 3. Whenever any money appropriated to any town 
from the state treasury for the support of public schools therein 
shall have been forfeited by said town, the same shall be added 
to said school fund and shall forever remain a part thereof 4 

Section 4. The General Treasurer, with the advice of the 
Governor, shall, from time to time, securely invest all sums of 
money hereby directed to be added to said fund in the capital 
stock of some safe and responsible bank or banks within this 
State. § 

Section 5. The income arising from said fund shall annually 
be appropriated for the support of public schools in the several 
towns. 1[ 

The Revised Statutes thus restored to the permanent school 
fund, as a source of increase, the annual revenue derived from 
auction duties; this and forfeitures were the only sources of 

* This provision is similar to the Act of 1S28. The law now permits investment in town 
or city bonds. 

t Same in Acta of 1828 and 1839. 
% Act of 1848. 
§ Act of 1828. 
lActs of 1S45, 1851. 



370 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

increase provided by law. Nevertheless, in 1859, Treasurer 
Parker reported the state's indebtedness to the permanent 
school fund as follows: Interest on stocks, $11,434.50; auction 
duties, $4386.75; interest on revenue, $211.69; total, $16,- 
032.94; less overdraft in previous report, $376.92; net indebted- 
ness, $15,656.02. 

Of this amount only $3165.34, that is $4386.75 received from 
auctioneers, less $1221.41 paid by auctioneers previous to July 1, 
1857, legally belonged to the fund; and the state by the act of 
its Treasurer without sanction of law, thus repaid $12,490.68 
of its unacknowledged debt, reducing the latter to $32,387.09. 
Thereafter the Treasurer credited to the increase of the fund 
only the revenue derived from auctions, which was strictly in 
compliance with the Revised Statutes. 

THE GREAT INCREASE IN 1859. 

In January, 1859, the State Auditor in his report said: " And 
they (the people) should not, under any circumstances likely to 
occur, hereafter allow the public deposit fund, which has been 
by law for more than 20 years, dedicated to the high objects of 
public education, to be touched for any other purpose than the 
one for which it was so long since set apart. And, in order to 
make assurance doubly sure, that this money shall hereafter 
be used only for educational purposes, I see no reason why the 
remaining portions of the deposit fund should not be, at once 
and forever, transferred to and made a part of the public school 
fund, which no party in power would ever dare to touch for any 
other purpose than the high and almost sacred one to which it 
is specially devoted." 

At the January session, 1859, it was enacted by the General 
Assembly, after thorough consideration and debate, as follows: 

Section 1. The remaining portions of the deposit fund 
received by this state from the United States by virtue of the 
act of Congress approved June 23, 1836, is hereby transferrred 



THE PERMANENT FUND. 371 

to and shall constitute a part of the permanent fund for the 
support of public schools in this state: Provided, however, 
that the same, or any part thereof, may be withdrawn from said 
permanent fund, whenever called for by the Secretary of the 
Treasury of the United States pursuant to the act of Congress 
aforesaid." 

Thus in the final disposition of the deposit fund Dorr prevailed. 
The "remaining portions of the deposit fund" amounted to 
$155,541.27. In May, 1859, the permanent school fund was 
reported as consisting of: 

694 shares of Globe Bank, Providence $34,700 . 00 

332 shares of Mechanics Bank, Providence 16,600.00 

434 shares of Bank of North America, Providence 22,594 . 38 

Public deposit money: 

1 bond of the city of Providence 32,112 . 60 

1 bond of the city of Newport 5800.00 

1306 shares of Globe Bank, Providence : . . 66,308. 19 

256 shares of American Bank, Providence 13,101 .04 

30 shares of Arcade Bank, Providence 1534.25 

732 shares of Bank of North America, Providence 36,695. 19 

Total $229,435.65 

Money awaiting investment 15,656.02 

Total $245,091 . 67 

THIS TRANSFER WAS NOT AN APPROPRIATION. 

At the January session, 1860, the General Assembly resolved: 
"That the sum of $11,191.80, being the balance on hand in the 
state treasury, is hereby transferred to and shall constitute a 
part of the permanent fund for the support of public schools in 
this state, to be invested and regulated by the commissioners 
of the deposit fund." The resolution originated in the House 
of Representatives, which voted to transfer $9786.24 to the 
fund. The Senate increased the amount to $11,191.80, and 
the House then concurred. 

The treasurer in May, 1860, reported the invested permanent 
school fund as follows : 



372 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

1 bond of the city of Newport $4800.00 

2000 shares of Globe Bank, Providence 101,008. 19 

332 shares of Mechanics Bank, Providence 16,600.00 

1166 shares of Bank of North America, Providence 59,289.57 

30 shares of Arcade Bank, Providence 1534.25 

813 shares of Bank of Commerce, Providence 42,935 . 24 

366 shares of American Bank, Providence 18,932 . 87 

Total $245,100. 12 

Comparison with the statement for May, 1859, shows that 
the city of Providence bond for $32,102.60 no longer was listed, 
and that Newport's bond was reduced $1000. Otherwise, 
entries of bank stocks were consolidated, the number of shares 
of American Bank increased 110, and Bank of Commerce ap- 
peared for the first time in the list with 813 shares. The in- 
vestment in city bonds, permitted with the deposit money, 
was being transferred to bank stocks, in compliance with law 
governing the permanent school fund. 

The statement of activity of the fund shows the same facts 
disclosed by the comparison. It is : 

Balance April 30, 1859 $15,656 . 02 

City of Providence, bond 32,102.60 

City of Newport, payment on bond 1000.00 

Auctioneers 1021 .09 $49,779.71 

813 shares of Bank of Commerce 42,935.24 

110 shares of American Bank 5831 . 83 48,767 . 07 

Balance subject to investment $1012 . 64 

If the treasurer had transferred $11,191.80 to the permanent 
school fund, he had used it merely to reduce the state's out- 
standing acknowledged indebtedness. Consequently the $11,- 
191.80 did not reduce the state's accumulated, unacknowledged 
indebtedness, which still stood at $32,387.09. The General 
Assembly's transfer of the treasury balance had been construed 
as an order to apply the money in the treasury to the state's 
debt; not as a fresh appropriation. The construction is per- 
fectly legitimate. There is no item in the record corresponding 
to the $11,191.80 ordered transferred; but the state Treasurer 



THE PERMANENT FUND. 373 

had invested all money due the fund (as his accounts ran), 
except current revenue from auctions. 

Though the permanent school fund gave promise in 1860 of 
settling down, after so romantic a past, into the dull monotony 
of steady increase according to law, such was not its lot. Since 
1860 the record shows no diversion from the fund of the revenue 
from auctions appropriated to its increase. Still, the fund as 
reported in 1917, amounted to only $248,138.84, as contrasted 
with $246,112.76 in 1860, a gain of only $2026.08 in 57 years. 

DULL, MONOTONOUS INCREASE RELIEVED. 

The permanent school fund in 1860 consisted of stocks and 
bonds valued at $245,100.12, and $1012.64 of uninvested 
money. The city of Newport redeemed its bond in two more 
installments, reducing the invested fund to $240,300.12 in 1863, 
and, with $3323.24 received from auctioneers, increasing the 
uninvested fund to $9135.88. The Treasurer purchased 180 
shares of American Bank stock at a cost of $9726.25, the in- 
vested fund standing at $250,026.37 in 1864, with $569.19 un- 
invested, auctions having netted $1159.56. The reorganization 
of the banking system under the National Banking Act was 
shown in the listing of banks as national banks; in the process 
the Arcade Bank became the Rhode Island National Bank. 

A Defaulter. — For 1867 no Treasurer's report appears in the 
Schedules. Early in 1868 the treasurer was found to be a 
defaulter to the extent of $4082.62 ; he resigned and ex-Treasurer 
Parker was requested to return to the office, which he held 
thereafter until his death in 1872. From the records, it is 
possible to construct a treasury statement for 1867, from which 
it appears that the invested permanent school fund was $253,- 
966.37, and that $1980.31 awaited investment. The defaulting 
Treasurer had purchased for the fund a Rhode Island state 
bond for $4000, paying $3940 therefor. One need not linger 
to consider the ethical and equitable aspects of the conduct of a 



374 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

trustee who borrows from a trust fund on his own note or bond 
and uses the trust money for his own purposes ; in the particular 
instance appeal lies to the law of the state, which permitted 
investment only in bank stocks, and to the Constitution, which 
in unmistakable terms forbade the General Assembly to "divert 
said money or fund from the aforesaid uses," or "to borrow, 
appropriate or use the same, or any part thereof for any other 
purpose, under any pretence whatsoever." The conduct of 
the Treasurer was clearly illegal and unconstitutional; it had 
an ultimate consequence that was reprehensible. When the 
state bond disappeared from the investments list of the per- 
manent school fund, presumably by payment and redemption, 
in 1871, the proceeds of the sale of the bond were not credited 
to the permanent school fund, which was thus mulcted $3940. 
Adding this amount to the outstanding unacknowledged in- 
debtedness of the state to the permanent school fund, the latter 
became $36,327.09 in 1871, at which figure it stands. 

An Error of $10,000.— In 1868 seven shares of the National 
Exchange Bank of Newport were purchased at a cost of $350, 
the first and only investment in stock of a bank outside of 
Providence. The invested fund was $254,316.37, and $4038.24 
awaited investment. After the disappearance of the state 
bond, already mentioned, the invested fund was reported in 

1871 as $250,376.37, and at the same figure without change 
until 1876, when it dropped, without explanation, to $240,376.37. 
A careful examination of the annual reports discloses that in 

1872 the value of 1166 shares of National Bank of North 
America was given as $59,289.57, and that in 1873 the same 
stock was quoted at $50,289.57, with no change in the total 
value of stocks held to correspond with the reduction. In 1874 
the value of 332 shares of Mechanics Bank was reduced $1000, 
still without change in the list total. Two years later the error 
in addition (or was it subtraction?) was corrected, and the total 
given as $240,376.37. On the books, the fund had lost $10,000. 



THE PERMANENT FUND. 375 

A Prophecy. — In May, 1874, the State Auditor, in his report 
to the General Assembly, made this comment on the permanent 
school fund: 

"It is a question, or subject matter, deserving the attention of 
your honorable body, whether the best interests of the state, 
pecuniarily considered would be enhanced by repealing all laws 
having reference to any further reservation of the sum annually 
received from auctioneers to be added to this fund. The sum 
now appropriated annually is nearly five times as large as the 
accumulated dividends on this fund, and no good reason teems 
to now exist for a continuance of this practice or policy. With 
our present state debt, good financial policy would seem to dic- 
tate that it would be prudent and economical to dispose of assets 
and investments of this nature, reducing our indebtedness, and 
at the same time relieving our people of a seeming liability of 
being sufferers in a monetary crisis that may disturb our financial 
peace at some future date." 

The recommendation was not adopted. And yet it ventured 
a prophecy destined to be realized, at least in part, within the 
next decade. The permanent school fund was doomed to 
suffer materially as the fruition of a financial panic. 

The Sprague Failure. — The panic of 1873 produced a catas- 
trophe in Rhode Island through the failure of the A. & W. 
Sprague Company. The permanent school fund suffered. In 
April, 1877, the Globe National Bank, under orders of the 
Comptroller of the Currency, reduced its capital stock one-half 
because of its holdings of "Sprague paper," then listed as worth 
25 per centum of its face. Although the 2000 shares of stock 
held for the school fund were listed as 1000 thereafter, no change 
in valuation was made. Treasurers subsequent to John Sterne, 
and all auditors up to this period, carried the school fund list 
asa cost account, without regard to par or market value. In 
1881 the Comptroller ruled that "Sprague paper" was worth- 
less, and could not be carried by national banks as an asset. 
The Globe Bank was compelled to assess its shareholders $15 
per share, the state's assessment being $15,000. This, with 
interest, was paid eventually out of the uninvested school fund 



376 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

money, and in the accounting transfer was made from the un- 
invested to the invested fund. In 1882 1000 shares of Globe 
Bank stock stood as costing $15,000 more than the 2000 shares 
held in 1876 ! The total invested fund was given as $255,509.86, 
and the uninvested fund, which in 1881 was $26,573.54, was 
reduced accordingly, though receipts from auctioneers raised it 
to $13,399.50. 

In 1884 the state made its last investment in bank stock for 
the fund, buying 100 shares of National Bank of North America, 
$6750; 26 shares of American National Bank, $1410.50; 142 
shares of Merchants National Bank, $9660; total, $17,820.50. 
The invested fund was listed as $273,330.36 in 1885, erroneously 
as $173,330.36 in 1886, but as $273,330.36 thereafter until 1896, 
when a loss of 50 cents appeared. In 1899 high-water mark was 
reached, when the invested fund was reported "as $293,262.36, 
the investments then including one bond of the town of Warren 
valued at $19,932.50. The uninvested balance was $1926.60. 
In 1899 the National Bank of Commerce reduced its capital 
stock one-half, the state's holding dropping from 813 to 406 
shares — without change in the reported value. 

The fictitious value given the fund may be appreciated more 
clearly when it is remembered that 1400 shares of stock had 
been lost in the period from 1860 to 1900. Further relief from 
the dull monotony of steady increase had been administered 
through the investment in a Rhode Island state bond, through 
the $10,000 charged off seemingly through erroneous accounting, 
and through the $15,000 paid as an assessment on Globe Bank 
stock. A more drastic remedy was soon to be applied. 

THE PROCESS OF REINVESTMENT. 

When, in 1859, the deposit fund was transferred to the school 
fund, municipal bonds were redeemed and the proceeds invested 
in bank stocks, in compliance with the law, which at that time 
required investment exclusively in the capital stock of banks 



THE PERMANENT FUND. 377 

within the state. Two generations passed before this policy 
was reversed, although the law as early as 1876 permitted 
investment in United States or state bonds, or city or town 
notes. The General Assembly in 1876 authorized a change by 
passing the following act: 

'The board of commissioners of sinking funds are hereby 
authorized, in their discretion, from time to time, to sell the 
national bank stocks in which the school fund of the state is now 
invested and to invest the sums received from such sale in bonds 
of the United States, or the bonds of any New England state, 
or in interest bearing notes of any city or town m this state; 
and said board shall deposit any sum in their hands awaiting 
investment in some national bank or trust company in the city 
of Providence, and it shall be the duty of said board to report 
to the General Assembly at its January session their doings' 
under the provisions of this act." 

The commissioners of sinking funds took 'no action. It will 
be noticed that the act applied exclusively to so much of the 
school fund as was already invested; in the purchase of new 
securities for investment the General Treasurer and Governor 
were limited to bank stocks. 

Action Urged,— Governor Alfred H. Littlefield, in his message 
to the General Assembly in 1881, reviewed briefly the history of 
the school fund in connection with the Globe Bank and made 
recommendations as follows: 

"The first investment by the state in stock of the original 
Globe Bank was made as early as 1831, when 100 shares were 
purchased, and subsequent investments increased the amount 
to 2000 shares. On account of losses by investment m Sprague 
paper,' so called, the capital stock of the bank was, in April, 
1877 reduced one-half, and the number of shares held by the 
state' was consequently reduced to 1000. In the reduced captial 
of the bank the Sprague indebtedness was allowed to count as 
worth 25 per cent., but in compliance with a recent order ot the 
Comptroller of the Currency, the entire Sprague paper has been 
charged off, and to meet the deficiency an assessment ot $15 
per share has been ordered, making the amount due from the 
state $15,000. This still remains unpaid, there being no au- 
thority for its payment from the treasury, and the commissioners 
of sinking funds deeming it advisable to refer the matter to the 



378 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

General Assembly before ordering a sale of any of the stock to 
meet the assessment. 

"The statute provides that the General Treasurer, with the 
advice of the Governor, shall have full power to regulate the 
custody and safe keeping of the permanent school fund, and to 
keep the same securely invested in the capital stock of some 
safe and responsible bank or banks within the state. He is 
also required to invest the accumulations of the fund in a similar 
manner. By a resolution passed at the January session, 1876, 
the commissioners of sinking funds were authorized, in their 
discretion, from time to time, to sell the national bank stocks 
in which the school fund was then invested and to invest the 
p roceeds in bonds of the United States or of any New England 
state, or in interest bearing notes or bonds of any city or town 
in the state. The commissioners have not exercised this 
authority, which applied to the fund as it then was, but not to 
the accumulations awaiting investment. . . . Aside from 
the resolution of 1876, which imposed no duty, but conferred 
only a discretionary authority, the General Treasurer is per- 
mitted to invest in. bank stock alone. In banks incorporated 
by the General Assembly, where the state is a stockholder, the 
General Treasurer by virtue of his office represents the state in 
the board of directors, whereas in national banks the state has 
no official representative. What therefore might have been 
a judicious form of investment, in view of the control which the 
state had over banks of its own creation, may well cease to be 
so in the general change of these banks to the national banking 
system. The stringent provisions of the Constitution against 
diverting this fund from its specific use, and borrowing, ap- 
propriating, or using it for any other purpose whatsoever, indi- 
cates the sacredness with which it is regarded, and, I think, 
justify me to thus fully present the matter for your early and 
careful consideration." 

The General Assembly took no action. Again, in 1882, 

Governor Littlefield's message referred to the permanent school 

fund: 

"I deem it proper again to call your attention to the mode of 
investment of our permanent school fund, referring you to my 
former message for details as to the legislation on this subject. 
Further reflection strengthens my conviction of the importance 
of changing those investments as soon as it can advantageously 
be done. Although the national banks in which the fund is 
invested are beyond the control of the General Assembly, the 
state is, nevertheless, liable to assessment to the extent of the 
par value of its stock. While I have the utmost confidence in 



THE PERMANENT FUND. 



379 



the national banking system as a mode of doing the A business 
for which it was established, I believe, for reasons I have here- 
tofore given, that the school fund should, if possible, be placed 
beyond the risks attending its present form of investment. 

The Public Statutes of 1882 revised the school fund law in such 
manner as to permit investment in town or city bonds, section 4 
of chapter 28, reading: 

"The General Treasurer, with the advice of the Governor, 
shall, from time to time, securely invest all sums of money 
hereby directed to be added to said fund, in the capital stock ot 
some safe and responsible bank or banks, or in bonds of any town 
or city within this state." 

Law but no Action.— The General Assembly had acted. 
Nevertheless, no change in investments was made. The 
$15,000 assessment on Globe Bank stock was paid from the 
accumulated uninvested fund; and when, in 1884, a new invest- 
ment was made, nearly $18,000 was expended for more bank 
stock. A decade and a half passed before the state made its 
first investment of the accumulating fund in town bonds, and 
an even longer period before the invested fund was reinvested. 
Bank Stocks Sold.— In 1899 Governor Elisha Dyer, in his 
inaugural message, made this announcement : "In view of the 
fluctuations in value of bank stocks, in which the larger portion 
of this fund (the permanent school fund) is invested, both the 
Treasurer and myself have determined to dispose of these stocks 
at the earliest possible moment and hold the proceeds for in- 
vestment in such bonds as the law permits." Accordingly, 
all the bank stocks held were advertised for sale at public 
auction, and all were sold except the shares of the National 
Bank of Commerce, which were withdrawn because there was 
no demand for them to warrant a sale. The National Bank of 
Commerce at about the same time reduced its capital stock 
one-half, the state's 813 shares shrinking to 406. The original 
cost prices, the book values and the sale prices of the bank stocks 
sold are given in the following table : 



380 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 





Cost. 


Book value. 


Sale price. 


1000 shares Globe Bank* 


$116,141.68 


$116,141.18 


$66,250.00 


1266 shares National Bank North 








America! 


66,039.57 


57,039.57 


78,808.50 


572 shares American Bank .... 


30,069.62 


30,069.62 


21,164.00 


332 shares Mechanics BankJ . . . 


18,056.70 


15,600.00 


15,687.00 


142 shares Merchants Bank. . . . 


9660.00 


9660.00 


8094.00 


45 shares Rhode Island Bank . 


1534.25 


1534.25 


798.75 


7 shares National Exchange 








Bank 


350.00 


350.00 


561.75 


Totals 


$241,851.32 


$230,394.62 


$191,364.00 



* Two thousand shares cost the state $101,008.19. The bank reduced its capital stock 
one-half, and the state paid an assessment amounting, with interest, to $15,133.49. ' The 
book value is 50 cents in error. 

t In 1872 $9000 was charged off the book value of this stock without explanation. 

t This stock was carried on the books at par value until 1874, when $1000 was charged 
off without explanation, and probably through error. 

From the original cost the loss was $50,487.32; from the 
book value, $39,030.62. The heaviest loss, that on Globe 
Bank stock, could be traced to the Sprague failure. The gains 
on National Bank of North America and National Exchange 
Bank of Newport nearly compensated for losses on American, 
Mechanics, Merchants and Rhode Island National Banks. 
The shares of National Bank of Commerce, withdrawn from sale 
at auction, still constitute a part of the invested school fund, 
and are the only bank stocks held since 1900. 

The Shrinkage.— Besides the $39,030.62 deduction from book 
values, $20,350 (that is, 407 shares) was charged off from the 
book value of the stock of National Bank of Commerce, making 
the total book loss $59,380.62. Auction duties credited to the 
fund reduced the net loss for the year to $47,737.17, the fund 
being reported in 1899 as $293,262.36, and in 1900 as $245, 
525.19, of which $64,935.26 awaited reinvestment. In addition 
$3658.46 received from auctioneers had not been transferred 
to the fund. The invested fund consisted of 406 shares of bank 
stock, valued at $22,585.24, and town bonds valued at $158,- 
004.69. 



THE PERMANENT FUND. 381 



In 1907 the practice of carrying stocks and bonds at par, 
instead of cost prices including premiums, was inaugurated. 
In consequence of this change and reinvestments the fund 
shrunk approximately $25,000, from $262,224.75, December 3b 
1907, to $237,643.55 one year later. The fund in 1917 amounted 
to $248,138.84. 

A GENERAL SUMMARY. 

The more significant facts in the foregoing story of the per- 
manent school fund are as follows : 

1. Treasurer Pitman, between 1828 and 1832, diverted 
$3930.75 from the permanent school fund. 

2. Treasurer Sterne corrected Treasurer Pitman's errors, 
but was prevented by treasury shortage from investing for the 
fund all revenues due it. 

3. In 1839 the state owed the school fund $15,773.33— a 
debt which it practically cancelled, at the same time increasing 
the revenue appropriated to the fund. 

4. During Stephen Cahoone's administration of the treasury 
$53,856.61 was diverted from the school fund. 

5. The state in 1845 owed the school fund $67,472.15. 

6. Treasurers between 1852 and 1859 transferred to the 
school fund, without authority of law, $35,085.06, reducing the 
state's debt to the fund to $32,387.09. 

7. In 1859 the balance of the United States deposit fund, 
$155,541.27, was transferred to the permanent school fund. 

8. In 1860 the school fund exceeded the fund in 1914 by 
$3565. 

9. In 1867 the General Treasurer, in violation of law and 
Constitution, invested $3940 of school fund money in a state 
bond. When the bond was cancelled the proceeds were not 
credited to the school fund. The state's unacknowledged in- 



382 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

debtedness to the permanent school fund thus became 
327.09. 

10. In 1877 the state lost 1000 shares of stock through the 
Sprague failure; the money loss appeared on sale of the remain- 
ing stock in 1899. 

11. Between 1872 and 1876 $10,000 was charged off the 
book values of investments without explanation. 

12. In 1882 an assessment of $15,133.49 on bank stock was 
paid from money awaiting investment, and added to the book 
value of investments. 

13. In 1899 the state sold most of its bank stocks, the fund 
decreasing $39,030.62 in book value, and $50,487.32 from the 
original cost of the investment. 

14. A further loss of 407 shares of stock, through reduction 
of capital, took $20,350 from the listed investments. 

15. After 1908 book values were reduced to par values, pre- 
miums paid being charged off; the apparent loss was $25,000, 
the fund shrinking from $262,224.45 to $237,643.55. 

16. The total losses on investments, from 1860 to 1908, 
exceeded $90,000. 

17. Nevertheless the fund in 1917 showed a total of $248,- 
138.84. 

Neglect and Its Cost. — The fundamental cause for the unfortu- 
nate past history of the permanent school fund has been neglect, 
and the reason for neglect has been that there has been no 
mutual interest between the public schools and the school fund. 
The annual appropriations for schools have never depended, 
in amount, upon the school fund or its income; and as annual 
appropriations have been increased, the income from the school 
fund, when applicable to appropriation for school purposes, 
has become, from time to time, a smaller and less considerable 
part thereof. On the other hand, to State Treasurers the fund 
has been a source of almost constant embarrassment, par- 



THE PERMANENT FUND. 383 

ticularly in the years when treasury balances were too small to 
warrant transfer to the fund of the income due it, or so small 
that overdrafts elsewhere made the fund itself a source of 
temptation. 

The State Auditor, in 1874, recommended abolition of the 
permanent school fund and application of the money to pay- 
ment of the state's debt because "the sum now appropriated 
annually (for schools) is nearly five times as large as the accumu- 
lated dividends," and in order to relieve " our people of a seeming 
liability of being sufferers in a monetary crisis that may disturb 
our financial peace at some future date." In 1910 Treasurer 
Read, in his report to the General Assembly, said: "Section 2, 
chapter 40, of the General Laws provides that the duties paid 
by auctioneers into the state treasury shall be added to the 
permanent school fund. When the statute was enacted it was 
no doubt the policy of the state to create a fund the income of 
which was to be appropriated for the support of the public 
schools of the several towns and cities. It was soon found, 
however, the income from the fund was too small to meet the 
demand for educational purposes, and the policy was reversed, 
giving the state the income of the fund, about $9000, and receiv- 
ing instead an annual appropriation of $120,000. The auction 
duties seldom exceed $1000, and there seems to be no good 
reason why this meagre sum should be annually added to a fund 
that is no longer used for the purpose for which it was intended. 
It should go to the general fund." The recommendation was 
repeated in 1911, but the General Assembly took no action. 

The Treasurer's recommendation presented a matter which 
deserved consideration, though his outline of the history of the 
fund was not accurate, and his conclusions were neither logical 
nor satisfying to zealous friends of educational interests. It is 
true that public education is too vast a public interest to rest 
its support upon the income of accumulated wealth; but that 
is not a good reason why the Rhode Island permanent school 



384 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

fund should be dissipated. The permanent school fund has 
been static; its potentialities for good have not been realized. 
It has never, in all its long history, been an efficient aid to the 
public schools. It needs to be vitalized; it can be, and it should 
be, made a dynamic agent for school improvement. 

HOW THE SCHOOL FUND MAY BE VITALIZED. 

Under the Constitution and the statutes the ideal condition 
for the permanent school fund is integrity and security of invest- 
ment. The Constitution forbids the General Assembly to divert, 
borrow, appropriate or use the money in the fund for other 
purposes than as a perpetual fund producing an income for 
the support of public schools. It may be questioned seriously, 
however, whether a quarter of a million dollars yielding four 
per centum annually produces a return anywhere nearly equiva- 
lent to the return from the same amount of money expended 
directly for schools and used to educate citizens of the state. It 
requires no magic to make the permanent school fund accom- 
plish both returns — yield an income as an investment and 
educate — in other words, to spend it for schools and still have 
it, in contradiction of the time-honored proverb that you can't 
have your loaf and eat it. The movement toward this higher 
ideal may be inaugurated without legislation. 

The statutes now permit investment in bank stocks or muni- 
cipal bonds. The undesirability of state ownership of stock 
in private corporations is patent, and requires no discussion 
here. On the other hand, municipal bonds issued under state 
authority and secured by town property, are safe, yield a fixed, 
steady and certain income, and are as a rule, further safeguarded 
by sinking funds. No doubt, the present statute contemplates 
a change ultimately to investment exclusively in municipal 
bonds. Beyond that, the next step in the line of progress 
would favor the selection of town bonds issued for school pur- 
poses. That is, the permanent school fund should be made a 



THE PERMANENT FUND. 385 



fund from which towns can borrow for school purposes. Thus 
the fund may be spent for school purposes again and again, and 
yet remain intact as an invested fund and yield an income. 

Nor are the possibilities for betterment confined exclusively 
to the state and the immediate building of schools or the exten- 
sion of school facilities. Carefully administered and worked 
out in detail, this plan might be made to yield an ultimate 
saving of money, either decreasing the burden of the towns or 
permitting even larger expenditures for schools without in- 
creasing taxation. The state as a lender need not insist upon 
round amounts, nor upon round periods for its loans, nor on 
long periods. In fact, the purposes of the state would best be 
served by early repayment and new loans, in much the same 
way that the rapid circulation of money helps business. An 
ideal condition would permit reinvestment or expenditure of the 
entire fund at least once every decade, or at even shorter 
periods, with five or six years preferable to ten; the oftener the 
better. The state should also permit towns to redeem loans 
from the permanent fund by installment payments, or to cancel 
loans by repayment at any time without premiums for interest 
loss. Repayment by installments might be accepted by the 
state as a substitute for sinking funds. Thus the towns would 
make a saving in gross interest payments, and in net interest as 
reduced by the income from invested sinking funds. Or the 
state might loan the permanent fund to the towns at a loaded 
interest rate, say eight per cent., and apply the extra interest 
to repayment of principal, or follow the plan of real estate 
dealers who accept periodical payments, resembling rent, as 
part payment for property. 

Growing towns require new schoolhouses almost every year 
to accommodate increasing school population. School building 
should be financed from regular taxes or by short-time loans. 
There is little justification for long-term bonds on the theory 
that in building schools new generations are being provided for; 



386 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

the future generations will have their own building burdens, 
and it frequently happens that a schoolhouse built on a long- 
term loan needs alteration and repair, perhaps rebuilding, at 
about the time repayment is completed. At that period the 
schoolhouse may have cost the town twice the original expendi- 
ture, if interest be added to first cost. For the purpose of 
inaugurating a reform on the basis of short-time school loans, 
the permanent school fund is available; it should be made a 
perpetual fund for this worthy purpose. 

As to the income from the permanent school fund, instead of 
being turned into the general treasury as a very inconsiderable 
and almost negligible offset to the state's annual school appro- 
priation, it should be devoted to some specific school purpose 
which would correlate it intimately with the schools. It might 
be made, for instance, the source of the fund for special aid to 
rural schools now administered by the State Board of Education 
and the Commissioner of Public Schools. It has been unfortu- 
nate that no clear connection between school appropriations and 
the income from the school fund has been maintained. Reform 
would begin with placing the expenditure of this income in the 
jurisdiction of the State Board of Education and the Commis- 
sioner of Public Schools. 

The permanent school fund should be made a perpetual fund for 
loaning to the towns for expenditure for school purposes, and the 
income used directly for education. Thus the fund may be vitalized 
and a desirable interest in it created. 



CHAPTER IX. 



SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION. 



The first Rhode Island public school law, the act of 1800, 

provided that the schools to be established under its provisions 

should be administered by town councils. Section 10 follows : 

"And be it further Enacted, that the town councils of the 
several towns shall have the visitation and government of town 
and district schools in their respective towns, and the appoint- 
ment of the preceptors and assistants, and the settlement and 
payment of their compensation, and shall and may displace 
them when necessary on account of incapacity or immorality." 

The report of the committee which accompanied the act when 
it was presented to the General Assembly discussed adminis- 
tration and the reasons for entrusting school management to 
town councils, thus: 

"The superintendence of schools and the office of carrying the 
act into execution is invested in the town councils. This 
authority being already constituted and composed generally of 
men of ability, integrity and weight in the community, offers 
advantages as a superintending and executive organ which the 
creation of a new body of officers, with no other powers than 
those immediately connected with the exercise of their proper 
functions, would not afford. The ample powers with which the 
town councils are now invested* would give them an energy and a 
facility in executing the act which no newly created authority 
would speedily acquire." 

Except for Smithfield's two-year compliance with the law, 
Providence was the only town in the state which established 
free schools in 1800. Providence continued to appoint its school 
committee, a body whose history already covered a period of 



388 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

almost half a century. The school committee and town council 
worked together, sometimes in complete harmony, and some- 
times not. In the one crucial test of authority, the town council 
declared invalid the election of a schoolmaster by joint action 
of committee and council, deposed the schoolmaster and chose 
another. In the last analysis, the school committee in Provi- 
dence in the first quarter of the nineteenth century was merely 
an advisory body, or a convenient auxiliary to the town council, 
on which the council might shift the more burdensome duties of 
visiting schools and conducting quarterly examinations. In 
1827 the freemen in town meeting referred the election of a 
school committee to the town council, and a reform committee 
of 36 members, with President Francis Wayland of Brown 
University as President, was chosen. The school law of 1828 
transferred the power to elect the school committee back to the 
freemen, and made the school committee a body having a legal 
status distinct from and independent of the town council, and 
with specified powers. This general law, applicable to every 
town in the state, provided: 

"Sec. 3. That at the annual town meeting . . . each 
and every town in the state shall . . . appoint a com- 
mittee, which shall be called the school committee, and shall 
consist of not less than five nor more than twenty-one persons, 
resident inhabitants of said towns, to act without compensa- 
tion, which committee . . . after being duly organized, 
shall meet as often as once in three months, and oftener if occa- 
sion require, for the transaction of all such business as may come 
before them . . . 

Sec. 4. That the school committee of each town shall have 
power to make all necessary rules and regulations for the good 
government of the public schools . . .; shall appoint all 
schoolmasters . . . ; shall have power to dismiss a school- 
master ... in case of inability or mismanagement; shall 
determine upon the places where the schoolhouses . . . 
shall be located; and it shall be the duty of said committee to 
visit all the schools in their respective towns, as often as once in 
every three months during their continuance, and generally, 
to superintend, watch over and provide for the good government 
and well governing of the same; and in case of death, resigna- 
tion or removal . . . they shall have power to fill the 



SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION. 389 

vacancy so occasioned until the annual election; . . . and 
shall audit and cause to be certified all bills for the compensa- 
tion of masters . . . and all other expenses incurred in the 
support and maintenance of such schools before the same shall 
be paid by the town council ; and shall also at said annual town 
meeting . . . render an account of all their proceedings for 
the preceding year." 

The powers of school committees were detailed somewhat 
more specifically in the school law of 1839, though there was 
little substantial change. By act of 1842 school committees 
were required, personally or by committee, to examine and 
ascertain the qualifications and capacity for the government of 
schools of all instructors employed in public schools. Of the 
early school law it may be said that it separated school admin- 
istration and the school system from general municipal admin- 
istration and organization, through (1) the election of the 
school committee by the freemen, and (2) the ample powers 
conferred upon the committee. The subsequent history of the 
school committee will show (1) a departure from this plan, and 
(2) a gradual return toward it. 

THE CONTENTIOUS EXPERIENCE OF 
PROVIDENCE. 

The law of 1828, with its restriction limiting town appropria- 
tions for school support to double the amount received from the 
state, might have proved disastrous in Providence. The town 
had been spending more than the permissible total for a quarter 
of a century, and it was committed early in 1828 to an extension 
of school facilities planned by Francis Wayland, which must be 
abandoned unless the restriction were removed. The town was 
exempted from the restriction by a special act of the General 
Assembly in 1828. A city charter became operative in 1832. 

Under the city charter, except as to sharing in the apportion- 
ment of state school money, Providence was further exempted 
from the general school law. The general school law of 1839 
recognized the exemption. The Barnard act of 1845 also ex- 



390 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

eluded the city, because Mr. Barnard considered it undesirable 
to interfere with the admirable system of schools then estab- 
lished in the city. The laws of 1857, 1872 and 1882 provided 
that "the public schools in the said city shall continue as 
heretofore to be governed according to such ordinances and 
regulations as the proper city authority may from time to time 
adopt." 

Election of School Committee. — The power to elect the school 
committee passed, under the city charter, from the freemen to 
the city council. The school committee, which the freemen 
had elected since 1828, ceased to exist; for it was substituted a 
new school committee of five to thirty members. In 1837 it 
was proposed in the city council to elect the school committee 
by popular vote. An ordinance adopted in 1838 required ward 
delegations in the city council to name each year, by filing a list in 
the office of the city clerk, three candidates for election as school 
committeemen by the council. This was the beginning of ward 
representation. Fifteen years later a new ordinance provided 
for a committee of 40, 30 selected at large by the city council, 
and 10 nominated by a committee of the council consisting of 
one member from each ward. 

The General Assembly, in 1853, was Democratic; the Dorr 
party had gained at the polls control of the government under 
the Constitution. Advantage was taken immediately of this 
opportunity to confer upon registry voters in Providence the 
same participation in the management of schools already en- 
joyed by registry voters in the towns. An act was passed 
establishing a school committee of 14 members, consisting of 
two members from each ward in the city, elected by the people. 
The significance of the change was twofold : First, the electorate 
included registry voters, whereas registry voters could not vote 
for city councilmen in Providence and had not been even in- 
directly represented in the choice of school committeemen; and 
secondly, it was likely that the registry voters' choice would 



SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION. 



391 



be one of their fellows, and that the non-property-holding class 
would thus attain membership in the committee. The Whigs 
gained ascendancy in the General Assembly in 1854, and popular 
control of the Providence school committee was almost com- 
pletely nullified by a new act, which added to the school com- 
mittee chosen by the people 14 members elected by the city 
council, and two ex-officio members, the Mayor, elected by the 
people, and the President of the common council. The Whigs 
had not dared to restrict or take away the suffrage right granted 
in 1853; they "packed" the school committee. Still another 
change was made in 1855, which increased the membership of 
the committee from 30 to 44 members, chosen as follows: By 
the people, three members for each of seven city wards, elected 
for terms, respectively, of one, two and three years, and after 
the first election one member every year to fill the vacancy; by 
the city council, 20 members at large, elected each year; ex- 
officio, the Mayor, the President of the common council and the 
chairman of the city council committee on education. The 
longer term and the election of one-third of the popular mem- 
bership annually was intended to give the committee stability 
and prevent frequent changes in its entire personnel; in other 
words, to offset the possibility of a change in fortune at an annual 
election. In 1859 the law was changed again, pursuant to a 
proposal for an amendment to the city charter approved by 
the people. The 20 members chosen by the city council were 
dropped from the committee. The size of the committee was 
increased, however, by provision for the election of six members 
from each ward in three classes, two members to be elected 
each year, who with the three ex-officio members, made a school 
committee of 45 under the seven-ward division of the city. The 
school committee attained a membership of 63 under a ten- 
ward organization. The school committee, by the change, had 
become a popular committee, but it represented wards and 
ward interests rather than the whole city. By act of 1867 the 



392 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

school committeeman in Providence must be a qualified elector 
and resident of his ward, but in 1873 the law was modified; 
thereafter he must be a resident of his ward, though not nec- 
essarily a qualified elector. After 1889 the two members retiring 
from each ward delegation were replaced by one member, thus 
reducing the committee to 33, its present membership. The 
biennial election law has made the tenure of school commit- 
teemen six years. 

School Economy? — Of the earliest period, from 1800 to 1828, 
during which the town council was the controlling school com- 
mittee, Stokes says that school management was characterized 
by strict economy. It is certain, however, that his standards 
for measuring economy were merely the gross amount of money 
expended for public school support, and the cost per pupil. In 
spite of an increase of 100 per cent, in population from 1800 
to 1830 (7614 to 16,836), there were, after organization was com- 
pleted, no increase in the number of public schoolhouses, no 
increase in the number of masters and ushers, no increase in 
expenditure for instruction, no increase in enrollment and 
attendance of pupils, and so little attention to repair and reno- 
vation of school property that 10 years later a committee pro- 
nounced the schoolhouses "unfit for use in their present con- 
dition," and "all either too small, too dilapidated or too badly 
constructed to be worth repairing." Do these facts bespeak en- 
lightened or true economy? Contrast with Stokes's comment, 
this terse, suggestive criticism by Francis Wayland, in 1827: 
" Everyone sees the injustice of taxing the whole community to 
support one or two schools, to which not more than one-tenth 
of the whole number of children can find admittance. The 
same injustice will evidently occur if the number of scholars 
imposed upon a teacher be so great as to render his instruction 
of so little value that a large portion of the community is obliged 
to resort to private schools." There were 80 or 90 private 
schools and six or seven academies in Providence in 1828! 



SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION. 393 

The short period of the freemen's school committee, from 1828 
to 1832, followed an improvement of schools inaugurated by a 
committee headed by Francis Wayland. The complexion of 
the freemen's committee would vary little from the town coun- 
cil, while the electorate was the same. In 1837, five years after 
the school committee had become a committee elected by the 
city council, the Providence Association of Mechanics and 
Manufacturers complained: "Why is it that the middling 
classes do not become participants in this instruction? There 
is evidently but one reason. They perceive that the crowded 
state of the schools alone would prevent proper attention to the 
pupil; and they are aware that with the small sum which the 
instructors receive, it is difficult to procure and retain the ser- 
vices of competent persons to fill the station." While it is true 
that the type of economy indorsed by Stokes was characteristic 
of early school management and was a failing of a period want- 
ing enlightenment and guidance to reach an accurate under- 
standing of the state's function in providing public education, 
some part of the burden of criticism must rest upon a system 
which entrusted management of schools to a body having so 
many other municipal interests as the town council, or to a 
body dominated, as was the school committee elected by the 
city council, exclusively by taxpayers. Yet in 1838 the city 
council undertook a reorganization of the school system which 
in the course of six years inspired the famous speech of Wilkins 
Updike in the General Assembly in 1843, and won an eulogium 
from Henry Barnard. 

City Council Control.— The city council permitted its school 
committee liberal discretion and authority in the management of 
schools, but there could be no question as to control, while the 
city council (1) elected the school committee, (2) determined the 
compensation to be paid to teachers, (3) designated the pur- 
poses for which school appropriations should be expended, (4) 
retained oversight of repairs and construction of schoolhouses, 



394 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

and (5) by ordinance conferred upon or deprived the school 
committee of specific or general powers. Authority was 
unitary, and the responsibility of the city council was recognized. 

The Constitution of 1843 introduced a new type of voter — 
the registry voter, who had paid voluntarily a tax of one dollar 
for public school support. In Providence he could not vote 
in the election of the city council, and thus was excluded from 
even indirect influence in the election of the school committee. 
The act passed by the General Assembly in 1853 was, there- 
fore, a reaffirmation of the principle underlying the protest 
against "taxation without representation" which had pre- 
ceded the Revolution of 1776, and, at the same time a reform 
measure strictly in line with recognition of an interest in public 
school management participated in by others than direct tax- 
payers. The acts of 1854 and 1855 tended to restore city 
council control, but the act of 1859 made the school committee, 
in its personnel, somewhat independent of the city council. 
Still, the city council retained final authority through (1) its 
control of school property, (2) its exclusive functions with 
respect to construction and repairs, and (3) its powers to fix the 
salaries of teachers, (4) to designate the purposes for which 
appropriations should be expended, and (5) to define by ordi- 
nance the rights and duties of the school committee. But it 
had no power to quiet conflict with a contentious school com- 
mittee by retiring recalcitrant members thereof and changing 
the committee's personnel; and it dared not exercise final 
authority to its full effect in the face of popular sentiment which 
the school committee could rally to its support. Unfortunately 
for the public schools the question of control became an issue 
in the political controversy between taxpayers and registry 
voters, and incidentally in the broader political controversy 
arising from suffrage restriction. 

Particularly vexatious to the school committee was the city 
council's control of school janitors and the placing of every 



SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION. 395 

school building in charge of an "official" amenable neither to 
teachers nor to the school committee. Moreover the restric- 
tions which the city council placed upon salaries sometimes 
hampered the school committee's endeavor to engage or to 
retain a superior type of teacher. It was inevitable, whatever 
the provocation, that a school committee elected by the people 
should chafe at control, and that the city council, elected by 
taxpayers, should seek to restrain freedom of expenditure by a 
committee which had no other interest in the revenue than 
spending it. Thus there was ample cause for friction between 
the bodies; and municipal politics easily supplied reasons for it. 

Council vs. Committee. — The breach between council and com- 
mittee opened widely in 1883. The school committee had 
petitioned the city council for renovation of school buildings, 
for new equipment in certain buildings, for installation of im- 
proved sanitary arrangements made possible by extension of 
the city sewer system, for the construction of eight new school- 
houses, for exclusive control of school estates, and for exclusive 
direction of the expenditure of school appropriations. No 
concessions having been granted by the council, the committee 
petitioned the General Assembly in 1884 to transfer control of 
school property from the city council to the school committee. 
The proposed legislation and a bill requiring the city to provide 
free textbooks both failed of passage. In 1885 the school 
committee asked permission of the council to participate in the 
selection of plans for schoolhouses, a charge of the council com- 
mittee on city property, but was refused. In the same year 
the committee notified the council that it would seek legislation 
permitting it to determine the salaries to be paid to school 
teachers. 

The reduction of the membership of the school committee 
from 63 to 33, effected by the act of 1889, increased its efficiency, 
and likewise its persistence and influence, in spite of expectation 
to the contrary. The committee in 1890 again petitioned the 



396 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

General Assembly for legislation giving it control of school prop- 
erty, without success. In the same year the city council in- 
creased teachers' salaries in amounts totalling more than 
$43,000, but it took away from the committee and entrusted 
to the superintendent of schools the authority to purchase 
books and supplies. In 1893 the city council's appropriation 
for schools brought the amount available for school support 
$35,000 under the school committee's estimates, while the 
compulsory free textbook law involved an expense for the first 
year of $45,000. The school committee finished the year with 
a deficit of $48,000. 

In 1895 the city council adopted an ordinance requiring all 
employees of city departments to be residents or taxpayers of 
the city. The City Solicitor ruled that the school depart- 
ment, technically, was not a " city department." The ordinance 
had been intended to apply to schools as well as to other city 
departments, and needed only a change in phraseology to give 
it full effect. The ordinance would have hampered the school 
committee in seeking teachers outside the city. 

Committee vs. Council. — In the same year "the school com- 
mittee desired to organize one of its departments in a way that 
was believed would increase its efficiency and certainly would 
decrease its cost. Request for power was made to the council. 
The ordinance passed one branch, but was held up in the other. 
After changes had several times been made to meet proposed 
objections, it was finally found that the reason for withholding 
assent came from an endeavor to keep in office certain teachers 
to whom some of the members of the city government were 
friendly and who would lose their positions if the ordinance went 
into effect. The school committee felt that the time for action 
had come, and that petty interference of this kind could no 
longer be submitted to, and appealed to the Legislature. In 
1896 an act passed both houses of the General Assembly by 
unanimous vote, placing the entire management of the Provi- 



SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION. 397 

dence schools in the hands of the school committee, save only 
the matter of the erection and repair of school buildings and 
the determination of the aggregate amount of appropriations 
for school purposes."* The act referred to simply placed 
Providence under the state's general school law except (1) that 
the city council retained control of the repair and construction 
of school buildings, and (2) that the manner of electing school 
committeemen and the size of the committee were not changed 
to conform to the general law. 

The struggle between council and committee was not ended, 
however. Since 1896 the council's authority in school matters 
has been limited to its control of the public purse, and has been 
exercised through its veto upon building projects and through 
limitation of the amount of school money placed at the disposal 
of the school committee. A crisis was reached in 1898-99. 
The school committee, facing a deficit of $91,000, was persuaded 
to continue school sessions for the full term in 1898, but resolved, 
in the name of retrenchment, to discontinue evening schools, 
kindergartens, and special instruction in sewing, cooking, etc., 
which had been introduced as a beginning of industrial educa- 
tion. The proposed curtailment aroused, as it probably was 
intended to do, a storm of popular disapproval and a demand 
for an investigation. The Mayor appointed a committee, 
which made a careful study of the situation. No serious mis- 
management or extravagance was found. The issue uncovered 
lay between the city council and the school committee, and it 
was a financial issue. The city council had restricted appro- 
priations; the school committee had inaugurated extensions 
for which the council had provided no money. Perhaps the 
committee was as much at fault as the city council; at any 
rate, it incurred the odium of having precipitated the crisis. 
Pursuant to recommendation of the investigating committee, 

* From the address of Walter H. Barney, President of the school committee, at the 
Public School Centennial celebration, October 22, 1900; printed in the report of the school 
Committee, 1900, page 270. 



398 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

the teaching force was decreased, particularly in the high 
schools; salaries for beginners and the rate of improvement of 
salaries were reduced; instruction in sewing and cooking was 
discontinued. Still the committee was obliged to close the 
schools two weeks short of the full term in June, 1899. 

The conflict between council and committee has grown less 
bitter in recent years, but there is almost annually a controversy 
over the appropriation, either when the council reduces the com- 
mittee's estimates, or when the annual deficit, which seems to 
be almost inevitable, is reported. There was in 1915 some 
agitation for a law which would place at the disposal of the 
school committee annually a definite proportion of the revenue 
of the city arising from taxation, besides the poll and dog taxes, 
tuition fees collected from non-resident pupils and the city's 
apportionment of state school money. This measure would 
relieve the committee of the necessity of convincing the city 
council annually of its needs, and would heighten the respon- 
sibility of the school committee to the people. 

A Large Committee. — No American city of the same size has 
so large a school committee as Providence; only one American 
city has a larger committee than Providence. The prevailing 
tendency is toward smaller school committees, or compact 
boards of education or school commissions. Without doubt a 
smaller school committee or a small school board would replace 
the large school committee in Providence if there was substan- 
tial agreement as to the method of electing or appointing its 
members; when this detail of any proposed reconstruction is 
reached, the problem involves an issue whose solution apparently 
awaits a readjustment of suffrage restrictions. Election by the 
city council means a return to the system in operation before 
1853, and the elimination of the registry voter as a factor in the 
choosing of the school committee; election on general ticket or 
appointment by the mayor suggests changes in political party 
control. For the committee as at present constituted, much as 



SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION. 399 

it violates such theoretical considerations as favor (1) a much 
smaller body, (2) a body chosen on general ticket instead of by 
districts, or appointed without consideration of districts, and 
(3) a reduction of the number and a limitation of the powers of 
sub-committees, it must be said (1) that, while local sectional 
interests are not neglected by the school committee in Provi- 
dence, these have given place to a larger general interest, and 
(2) that the school committee has approached recognition of a 
scientific division of functions in school administration betwixt 
the committee as a legislative body and the superintendent of 
schools as an executive. The committee is still open to the 
criticism that most of its functions are exercised and most of its 
business is considered in detail by sub-committees, and that it 
has no substantial unitary organization of its entire member- 
ship; but this is a criticism that must be made inevitably of 
so bulky a committee attempting to deal with the mass of 
details in so large a public school system; it is a fault of the 
system — not of the committee. 

Rise of the Sub-Committee. — The sub-committee of the school 
committee originated in April, 1813, when "a committee for 
the purpose of examining into the qualifications of candidates 
for preceptorships of the public schools" was appointed. In 
October of the same year sub-committees to have charge of 
the several schools in the intervals between quarterly examina- 
tions were appointed. The school committee of 1828, the first 
freemen's committee, appointed an executive committee of 
three members, a committee on accounts of two, and a com- 
mittee on qualifications of five, besides district committees. A 
high school committee was appointed when the school system 
was extended; committees on music and evening schools in 
1870, committees on drawing and penmanship, vacation schools, 
by-laws and textbooks in 1880. In 1897 the standing com- 
mittees numbered 18, and the next year 19. The present 
organization consists of 19 sub-committees, mostly of five 



400 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

members each besides the president of the school committee, 
who is ex-omcio a member of all committees, as follows: Ac- 
counts, annual report, apportionment (finance), by-laws, draw- 
ing, education of backward children, evening schools, executive, 
free public lectures, grammar and primary schools (replacing 
the committee on qualifications), high schools, hygiene, music, 
penmanship, private schools, relations to the city council, 
schoolhouses, summer schools and textbooks. Each ward 
delegation is a district committee on the schools in its ward, 
and each member of the school committee is a visiting com- 
mittee for one or more schools. The school committee employs 
a clerk, who is ex-officio secretary for all sub-committees, 
and is assisted by four clerks; a purchasing agent, with three 
clerks; a truant officer, with two clerks; a superintendent of 
school property, with an assistant and clerk, among whose 
functions is supervision of school janitors; besides the super- 
intendent of schools and three assistant superintendents. 

Ward Interests. — Recognition of ward interests in the school 
committee began in 1838 with the ordinance permitting ward 
delegations in the city council to nominate candidates for the 
school committee. The law of 1853 provided for popular 
election of the school committee by wards. The committee on 
qualifications in 1858 consisted of one member from each ward, 
and in 1868 ward delegations elected each one member of the 
sub-committees on qualifications, high school, music and 
evening schools. Six years later the committee on penmanship 
and drawing was similarly organized, but the sub-committees 
on high schools and evening schools were reorganized without 
reference to wards. In 1887 the chairman of the committee on 
education became a member of the committee on qualifications, 
failing to affect materially, however, the strong ward interest. 
The committees on music, and drawing and penmanship were 
reduced to five members in 1890, but the evening school com- 
mittee was restored as a ward committee. Two years later the 



SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION. 401 

evening school committee became a committee of five members, 
and the president was given power to appoint the committee 
on grammar and primary schools, which, however, still con- 
sisted of one member from each ward. In 1897 all committees 
were reduced to five members, to be appointed by the president. 
The prescribed representation of wards in sub-committees was 
a tacit recognition of ward interests in the work of the com- 
mittee. Years were required to eliminate this partisan and 
political interest, particularly harmful to the schools, as it 
affected the appointment, discipline, retention and dismissal of 
teachers. The reorganization of sub-committees in 1897 
marked a long stride forward, and in 1899 the assignment, 
transfer and dismissal of teachers was placed in the hands of the 
superintendent; in 1902 the appointment of teachers, subject 
to approval by the school committee, became a prerogative 
of the superintendent. 

The Superintendent. — Providence was the first Rhode Island 
town to appoint a professional superintendent of schools. 
The office was created by ordinance of April 9, 1838, which 
authorized the school committee to make the appointment. 
Nathan Bishop, the first superintendent, was elected July 23, 
1839, and entered upon his duties August 1, 1839. Credit for 
the innovation has been assigned to Thomas W. Dorr, to whom 
it was suggested by the employment of superintendents in the 
manufacturing industries of the state. Dorr, though active in 
the school committee and at one time its president, and diligent 
in performing every duty of his office, recognized the service 
which an efficient supervisor, amply paid and devoting all his 
time to school management, could render. At first a visitor, 
inspector and supervisor of schools, the superintendent grad- 
ually was entrusted with wider powers, becoming in the course 
of time an adviser of the school committee as well as its 
servant and agent. 



402 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

Reviewing briefly : The efficiency of the school committee of 
Providence as an administrative body has been affected by 
attempts to control its action exerted externally and internally. 
The chief agency operating from without has been the city 
council. Providence was exempted from the restriction upon 
school appropriations imposed by the general school law of 
1828, and the city charter of 1832 extended the exemption and 
provided for election of the school committee by the city council. 
The city council elected the school committee from 1832 to 
1853, and elected approximately one-half its membership from 
1854 to 1859. The city council substantially controlled the 
school committee from 1832 to 1896 by ordinances fixing the 
powers of the committee, and by the retention and exercise of 
functions essentially administrative relating to the public 
schools. Since 1896 the city council's influence has been limited 
to control of the public purse. Factors operating internally 
have been the large size of the committee, the recognition of 
ward interests as paramount to a general interest of the whole 
city, and the sub-committee system, decentralizing in its effect, 
but rendered inevitable by the size of the committee and the 
mass of business handled by it. The ward interest has prac- 
tically been eliminated. An important factor tending to pro- 
mote efficiency of school administration in the city has been 
the superintendent of schools, the gradual extension of his 
functions, and the recognition of a division of powers in school 
administration. The school committee tends to become a 
legislative body, delegating executive powers to paid officials. 

INTRICACIES OF THE SCHOOL DISTRICT SYSTEM. 

The Barnard school law raised the school district to the 
dignity of an administrative unit and created a new minor 
school officer — the district trustee. The district law was not 
complicated, and yet nearly every section of it was carried to 



SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION. 403 

the Commissioner of Public Schools or the Supreme Court for 
interpretation. 

The history of a controversy in the town of North Providence, 
centering in school District No. 3, shows the intricacies of the 
district system, the possibilities which it offered for intermittent 
and enduring controversy, and the trivial pretext which might 
be made the basis for dispute, conflict and litigation. In the 
course of seven years, from 1850 to 1857, thirteen appeals were 
taken to the Commissioner of Public Schools or the Supreme 
Court. 

The original controversy arose from the school committee's 
attempt to enforce a gradation of schools in a populous school 
district, in which conditions warranted such progressive action. 
John H. Willard, a grammar master in another section of the 
town, member of the school committee and its clerk, seems to 
have been a prime factor in the movement to enforce grada- 
tion. He was resolute and resourceful, and sought to accom- 
plish his purpose by use of the means which the law gave him. 
When it was clear, as was decided, on the second appeal, that 
the school committee could not by direct means enforce a 
gradation of schools, recourse was had to indirect methods, that 
is, to limitation of certificates and withholding teachers' 
salaries. 

The people of the district were divided on the question. One 
of the earlier appeals was taken by two residents, who protested 
a division of the district. Two later appeals tested the validity 
of a record vote taken in a district meeting. Finally John H. 
Willard himself felt the onus of unpopularity. He resisted 
successfully an attempt to reduce his salary as a schoolmaster 
or to dismiss him from his position, and also an attempt to 
remove him from his office as clerk of the school committee. 
The last appeal from North Providence, the thirteenth, was 
taken by John H. Willard, and the Commissioner of Public 
Schools sustained the action of the school committee, which 
had discharged Willard. 



404 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

March 9, 1850, the school committee recommended that 
District No. 3 build or lease a room for a primary school in the 
southern part of the district. No action was taken upon this 
recommendation, until at a meeting of the district on August 6, 
1851, a resolution was adopted, voicing the opinion of the dis- 
trict that its wants imperatively demanded the establishing 
of a primary school, and ordering that a schoolhouse be built 
for the use of the public schools agreeably to the recommenda- 
tion of the school committee, at a cost not exceeding $1000. 
The schoolhouse was built. 

Meanwhile, on November 30, 1850, the school committee 
of North Providence voted to divide school District No. 3 into 
two districts. From this action James S. Healey, Robert 
Newson and others appealed, contending that the school com- 
mittee had no power to divide the district, because schools of 
different grades might conveniently be established. Section 4 
of the school law was cited, which empowered the school com- 
mittee "to lay off their respective territory into primary school 
districts, and to alter or abolish the same when necessary; 
provided, that unless with the approbation of the Commissioner 
of Public Schools, no new district shall be formed with less than 
forty children, over four and under sixteen years of age; and 
that no existing district, by the formation of a new one, shall 
be reduced below the same number of like persons ; and that no 
village or populous district shall be sub-divided in two or more 
districts for the purpose of maintaining a school in each under 
one teacher, when two or more schools of different grades for 
the younger and older children can be conveniently established 
in said district." It was not disputed that there were in each 
of the proposed districts more than forty children of school age. 
The Commissioner held that the portion of the law respecting 
the grading of schools should be construed "as laying down a 
principle for the regulation of the discretion of the committee," 
and concluded: "In regard to the facts of the case, taking all 



SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION. 405 

the circumstances together, and with the probability that the 
population of the north part of the district, from its vicinity 
to the city, must be constantly increasing, and that, therefore, 
the district presents a favorable opportunity of carrying out, 
sooner or later, the apparent intention of the proviso, I am of 
the opinion that the district ought not to be divided, and the 
decision of the committee is, therefore, reversed." This decision 
was rendered April 16, 1851, and approved two days later by 
R. W. Greene, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. 

When the new school was opened two teachers were employed, 
Anson H. Cole and Miss Hannah T. Smith. Both held certifi- 
cates granted by the school committee, Mr. Cole a general 
certificate, and Miss Smith a certificate for the new primary 
school. It was obviously the intention of the committee by 
this special certification to force a gradation of schools. The 
trustees changed the teachers, sending Mr. Cole to the new 
schoolhouse, and Miss Smith to the old schoolhouse. On 
January 2, 1852, the chairman and clerk of the school com- 
mittee notified the trustees that the teachers must be restored, 
and that unless the change was made the following Monday, 
their bills would not be allowed. The change was not made, 
and the school committee refused to allow the bills for wages 
after January 5, 1852. An appeal was taken to the Commis- 
sioner of Public Schools, who, after a hearing, held — 

1. That the school committee may promote by advice and 
recommendation, but have no power to compel a gradation of 
schools by a district. 

2. That the committee have power to limit and explain their 
certificate; and that there is no reason why the certificate 
should not express the degree of qualification. 

3. That the committee cannot delegate their general 
powers. To delegate a power which is supposed to imply the 
exercise of a discretion in the committee seems contrary to the 



406 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

intention of the law in giving such power to the committee. 
Although the committee has a right to annul a certificate, 
it cannot delegate this power to annul. Hence the action of 
the chairman and clerk in notifying the trustees that the 
teachers must be restored was not a legal annulment. The 
Commissioner, therefore, ordered the town treasurer to pay 
the bills of both Mr. Cole and Miss Smith. 

The town treasurer refused to pay, and an application was 
made to the Supreme Court for a writ of mandamus. This 
stage of the controversy is reported in the case of Randall vs. 
Wetherell, 2 R. I. 120. After a hearing and consultation with 
the Commissioner of Public Schools, the court held that the 
Commissioner has no authority, under the statutes, to draw 
an order on the town treasurer for the payment of school money. 
His procedure should be to render a decision, and certify it to 
the school committee. Upon the school committee's refusal 
to act, it was suggested, a writ of mandamus might be issued 
against the school committee. 

Thereupon the Commissioner <5f Public Schools issued a notice 
to the school committee to show cause why an order should not 
be made for them to carry his decision into effect, and a second 
hearing was held on June 12, 1852. At the conclusion thereof 
the Commissioner issued an order to the school committee to 
draw an order on the town treasurer for the salary due Anson 
H. Cole, who had held a general certificate for the town, but 
reversed his former decision ordering the payment of Miss 
Smith's salary, holding that it was not within the Commis- 
sioner's authority to dispense with a teacher's having a cer- 
tificate. It will be remembered that Miss Smith's certificate 
had been expressly limited to a certain school, and that she 
actually taught in another school. 

The quarrel was not at an end, however. A fourth appeal 
to the Commissioner of Public Schools was decided on January 
8, 1853. It appeared that on October 16, 1852, the school 



SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION. 407 

committee refused to allow the bills of Anson H. Cole and 
Hannah T. Smith for another term, on ground that their cer- 
tificates had been annulled by the letter of January 2, 1852, 
already referred to in connection with an earlier appeal. This 
time the question to be decided was simply that of the effect 
of the letter. Mr. Cole had a general certificate, but had 
taught in the primary school; Miss Smith had taught in the 
school to which her certificate was limited. The Commissioner 
held, as before, that the school committee could not delegate 
its power to annul certificates to a sub-committee, and ordered 
the school committee to issue warrants for paying the salaries. 
Within a week the school committee rejected the claim of 
another teacher, Miss Abby Thurber. Miss Thurber held a 
general certificate, but she was notified by the sub-committee 
of the school committee that her certificate was annulled as 
soon as she began to teach in the "old schoolhouse." She 
taught in the "old schoolhouse." In this appeal a new point 
was raised, namely, that the sub-committee who annulled the 
certificate was a superintendent of schools, with all the powers 
of the committee. Section 7 of the school law was quoted, as 
follows: "Any town may appoint or authorize its school com- 
mittee to appoint a superintendent of the schools of the town, 
to perform, under the advice and direction of the committee, 
such duties, and exercise such powers as the committee may 
assign to him." The town had voted on June 3, 1850, to 
authorize the school committee to appoint "an agent to visit 
the schools, at a compensation not exceeding one hundred 
dollars, to be paid from the public school money." The school 
committee, on October 18, 1851, voted "that John H. Willard 
be superintendent of the public schools of the town for the 
current year, such services to be compensated from the residue 
of the appropriation of $100 voted last year by the town for 
such purpose." The Commissioner held that the vote of the 
town did not authorize the school committee to appoint a 



408 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

superintendent, and that John H. Willard was not super- 
intendent. The committee's vote was reversed, and the salary- 
was ordered paid. This decision was approved by the Chief 
Justice of the Supreme Court. 

In the summer of 1854, District No. 3 voted to build another 
new schoolhouse, and to assess a tax, but held a later meeting 
on August 17 to reconsider its action. A motion to rescind was 
declared rejected by a vote of 22 to 22. An appeal was taken 
to the Commissioner, who reviewed the record vote. A record 
vote required that the name of the voter and his preference be 
recorded. It was found that eleven who were not qualified tax- 
payers had voted; their votes were declared illegal, and the 
vote to rescind was carried, 17 to 16. To quiet further agitation, 
the Commissioner ruled that a contract for building could not 
be made legally until the district had acquired title to the school 
lot. 

Another appeal was taken on the same question by Edward 
Finigan and Lewis E. Heaton, who alleged that their ballots had 
been illegally rejected by the moderator at the meeting on August 
17. After a hearing the Commissioner decided that the ballots 
had been rejected illegally, and as the two men offered to vote 
against the motion to rescind, their votes should be received and 
counted. The vote therefore stood 18 for rejection of the 
motion to rescind, and 17 for it. Hence the vote had not been 
rescinded. This decision, reversing the earlier decision by Com- 
missioner Potter, was written by Commissioner Allyn, and 
approved by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. 

The next appeal from North Providence was from another 
district, District 8, the Commissioner deciding that he could 
not encroach upon the powers, prerogatives or duties of any 
officer below him, and that he could not, in this particular case, 
issue a warrant for the collection of a district tax, where the 
district trustee declined to act. 



SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION. 409 

John H. Willard, who had been a party to the controversies 
in District 3, was the next appellant from North Providence. 
He was master of a grammar school in District 2, and was 
notified by a newly elected board of trustees that they had voted 
to reduce his salary, or to dismiss him if he did not accept a cut. 
Willard claimed an appeal, on ground that his salary could not 
be reduced, and that he could not be dismissed within a school 
year without cause. The Commissioner sustained the appeal. 

In 1856 an appeal was taken from District 1, North Provi- 
dence, to test the legality of a tax assessment, and in the same 
year the Commissioner heard another appeal from District 3, 
on which he decided that at a special meeting of a school district 
no other business than that named in the warrant could be 
transacted legally. 

At the annual meeting in school District 3 in May, 1855, 
three trustees were elected; one resigned in September, 1855. 
His resignation was accepted in February, 1856, and another 
trustee was elected. This election was declared invalid in the 
appeal previously mentioned. The two remaining trustees had 
declined to recognize the legality of the third trustee, and had 
held meetings without him. An appeal was taken from the 
action of the clerk of the school committee, John H. Willard, 
who drew orders for the salaries of teachers elected by the two 
trustees. It was held that, as two trustees did not constitute 
a legal board, no teachers had been legally elected, and the 
appeal was sustained. 

On December 13, 1856, the school committee declared the 
office of clerk vacant, thus dismissing John H. Willard, who had 
been interested in almost every one of the earlier appeals. No 
notice was given, and no opportunity was afforded Willard to 
be heard. The Commissioner held that the clerk could not be 
dismissed without notice and a hearing, and' his decision was 
approved by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. 



410 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

Thereupon the committee, on March 21, 1857, tried Willard 
upon charges, sustained them and voted to dismiss him. On 
his appeal the committee was sustained, and Willard was thus 
effectively dismissed. 

Of 102 decisions reported in the School Manual for 1896 more 
than three-quarters involved sections of the school law dealing 
with school districts. The litigation involved almost every 
phase of the life of a school district and its various functions — 
from creation to abolition. The decisions illuminate the dis- 
trict law, and both law and decisions give a fairly accurate 
description of the life and trials of these historical organizations. 

Locating the District. — The option of administering town 
school systems by the town plan or the district plan rested, in 
the first instance, with the town, under the Barnard law, but in 
1846 the lines of all existing districts were confirmed by statute, 
in order to quiet contentions raised by obstructionists that the 
law of 1845 had abolished all school districts previously created 
and required a reorganization. Thereafter new districts could 
be laid out, and district lines changed (/nly by the town school 
committee. It was held that the authority of the town meeting 
ended with a vote to establish districts, and that the actual 
laying out and location of boundaries was a function belonging 
exclusively to the school committee (75, 1864, and 8, 1884*), 
and that the school committee's record, not the duplicate filed 
in the office of the town clerk, was the ultimate authority (55, 
1859). While the discretion of the school committee in estab- 
lishing boundaries was not limited, it could not be exercised 
arbitrarily; hence, a single estate could not be taken from one 
town to form a joint district with a district in another town, 
when other estates were favorably situated for the same purpose 
(72, 1857). On appeal from the vote of the school committee 

* Citations by number only refer to the School Manual of 1896. Of the two numbers 
given in each instance, the first is the number of the decision and the second the year in 
which it was rendered. 



SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION. 411 

the Commissioner of Public Schools might define boundaries 
(86, 1848; confirmed 1852 and 1864), and on refusal of the school 
committee to act, he had similar authority (88, 1851). No 
district providing for less than 40 children of school age could 
be laid out without the consent of the Commissioner. The 
school committee had power to discontinue a district once 
established by merging it with another district (75, 1875). 
After 1882 the school committee must give public notice of any 
meeting at which it was proposed to alter school district lines. 
The school committee had power to establish a school and 
engage a teacher for a district which neglected or refused to 
organize, or which failed to keep a school; or to take over and 
administer the schools of a district upon surrender by the dis- 
trict. 

Corporate Powers of District.— School districts were by statute 
bodies corporate, but involuntary corporations, "brought into 
existence without the volition of their members, embracing 
everyone within their limits nolens volens."* Changing bound- 
aries did not break the corporate life of a school district (56, 
1881). The school committee could dissolve the district cor- 
poration by merging the district with another. Bull vs. School 
Committee, 11 R. I. 244. The statutory powers of a school 
district were: To prosecute and defend actions; to purchase, 
receive, hold and convey real or personal property for school 
purposes; to establish and maintain a school library; to build, 
purchase, hire, repair and equip schoolhouses ; to raise money 
for school support by taxes levied on the ratable property in the 
district, and to elect district school officers. The district pos- 
sessed such additional, incidental powers as the rights to borrow 
money by note (10, 1855. J. 0. Clarke vs. School District, 3 
R. I. 199) ; to sue at law and pay the costs of suit, to hire legal 
counsel to prosecute or defend actions, to pay compound interest 

* Matteson, A. J. S. C, in Bull vs. School Committee 11 R. I. 244, quoting Morton, J., 
in School District vs. Richardson, 23 Pickering 62, 69. 



412 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

by agreement, and to make contracts (7, 1853). A school dis- 
trict could not hire a school teacher, this power belonging ex- 
clusively to the district trustee (62, 1856). A school district 
could not expend the money for the coming year (15, 1868). 

The Taxing Power. — The taxing power was most frequently 
in litigation. The amount of a district tax must be approved 
by the town school committee ; approval might be given before 
or after assessment (32, 1888. Seabury vs. Howland, 15 R. I. 
446, explaining Holt's Appeal, 5 R. I. 603), at any time up to 
the time when a warrant for collection of the tax was issued 
(43, 1854). The district might rescind its vote to raise a tax 
(7, 1853), and the school committee might rescind its approval 
of a district tax (41, 1853), but neither district nor committee 
could rescind after a valid contract had been entered into pur- 
suant to the vote (6, 1853). Any change in the tax order re- 
quired a fresh approval (48, 1858*). After 1884 a district 
meeting to reconsider action previously taken within six months 
could be called only with the consent of the school committee. 
(P. L., ch. 455. See 34, 1890). The school committee's ap- 
proval of a district school tax was not reviewable on appeal to 
the Commissioner of Public Schools (40, 1844; confirmed 1854) 
if the tax otherwise was legal, the Commissioner holding that 
the school committee's approval involved a review.f The 
amount of the tax assessed must not exceed the amount ordered 
by the district (55, 1879), but the district might order a tax on 
the percentage basis, the amount to be determined by the assess- 
ment (45, 1856). A district tax was not illegal because it ex- 
ceeded the amount of the district's indebtedness (49, 1859) ; 
that is, the district might raise money by taxation in anticipa- 
tion of its future needs. Real estate and personal property 
must be assessed separately (43, 1854). A vote to assess a tax 

* And see Holt's Appeal, 5 R. I, 603, as explained in Seabury vs. Howland, 15 R. I. 446. 
t Query. This question is now academic, but it may be questioned if the decision was 
right. Cottrell's Appeal, 10 R. I. 615. 



SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION. 413 

within a specified time was directory, not mandatory; the tax, 
for good reason, might be assessed within a reasonable time (43, 
1854). Imperfections in a record did not invalidate a tax, if it 
was clear to whom and on what property the tax was assessed 
(45, 1856). 

Transfer of land did not invalidate an assessment and render 
another necessary (92, 1856). An estate, transferred from one 
district to another by change of district lines, after a tax had 
been ordered but previous to assessment, was liable to assess- 
ment in the second district (56, 1881). A law exempting the 
children of honorably discharged soldiers and sailors and their 
parents from tuition fees, did not exempt the property of 
soldiers and sailors from taxation for school purposes (98, 1878). 
District taxes must be levied on ratable property according to 
its value at the last town assessment or the next assessment, if 
so ordered. Obviously the last town assessment would not 
cover satisfactorily land taxed as one parcel and lying in two 
districts, or personal property of residents moving into a district 
after the town assessment, or property divided and apportioned 
after death or by sale, or personal property reinvested in real 
estate, or property omitted from the town assessment. The 
law, in such instances, provided for a reassessment by the town 
assessors, after a failure to reach an agreement by district 
trustees and the taxpayer (55, 1879). The school committee 
had power to abate taxes where property previously assessed 
for building or repairing a schoolhouse was transferred into 
another district and became liable to assessment there. 

The period of residence determined the residence for purposes 
of taxation when a person resided only part of the year in a 
^school district (51, 1860). The Commissioner of Public Schools 
might, after notice and hearing, appoint assessors to assess a tax 
sufficient to fulfill a contract legally entered into by a district, 
if the district refused to order and collect such a tax, but he could 
not enforce collection of a tax already ordered by the district 



414 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

and only partly collected (91, 1855); the last was a function 
of the district trustee. The Commissioner's power was limited 
to instances where the district itself failed to act or could not 
act (54, 1877). The school district tax could be paid legally 
to nobody but the regularly appointed collector (44, 1855), 
but the district might designate the town collector of taxes as 
its collector (46, 1856). The bondsmen of a town collector 
were not liable for his acts while collecting for a school district 
(45, 1854), a decision which emphasized the corporate separa- 
tion of town and school districts.* 

District Meetings. — School districts, after organization, were 
required to hold an amiual meeting. Notice of the time and 
place of holding district meetings must be given by publication 
in a newspaper published in the district, or by posting in two 
or more public places for five days before holding the same. A 
notice dated six days before a meeting was held prima facie 
evidence of regularity. Howland vs. School District, 15 R. I. 185. 
In reckoning time the law does not consider fractions of a day. 
In computing the five days required for notice the day of the 
meeting could not be counted, but the day of posting could be ; 
hence a notice posted on the ninth was valid for a meeting held 
on the fourteenth (34, 1890). One notice was insufficient (29, 
1875f). Three notices were posted, one on the schoolhouse, 
one on a building previously used as a grain building, one on 
a board, 6 feet by 10 inches, fastened by the roadside; held 
sufficient. Seabury vs. Howland, 15 R. I. 446. 

Special meetings might be called by trustees, or by the clerk 
of the district if the trustees were unable to act, at discretion; 
and must be called by the trustees or clerk upon the written 
request of five qualified electors; or by the school committee, 



* And see speeches of Arlan Mowry and Edwin Aldrich, in Rhode Island House of Repre- 
sentatives, March 4, 1870, opposing the setting off of Woonsocket from Smithfield. Rider 
collection, 182, 35, 7. 

t Frink vs. Coventry. Taken on appeal to the Supreme Court and decision confirmed. 



SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION. 415 

upon the refusal or neglect of the trustees or clerk to act. After 
1884 no special meeting could be called, without the consent 
of the school committee, to consider any matter acted upon by 
the district within six months previous to the meeting. This 
limitation was interpreted as if the word " consider" read 
"reconsider." It was held that a meeting to take additional 
steps to carry out a previous vote of the district did not require 
consent of the school committee (34, 1890). The call for an 
annual meeting need not (Seabury vs. Howland 15 R. I. 446), 
that for a special meeting must, state the purpose of the meet- 
ing (24, 1856). It was held that when the object stated in the 
notice for a special meeting was "to take action in regard to 
the collection of the tax already assessed," it was sufficient to 
warrant the election of a tax collector (Seabury vs. Howland, 15 
R. I. 446); but a call for the purpose of considering the ex- 
pediency of building a new schoolhouse or of enlarging the old 
one, while warranting a vote to build and the appointment of a 
committee to carry out the vote, was not sufficient to warrant 
a vote to purchase a new site and to raise a tax (33, 1888). 

Suffrage Rights. — Every person resident in a school district 
was entitled to vote in district meetings to the same extent and 
with the same restrictions as he might at the time vote in town 
meetings, but no person could vote upon any question of taxa- 
tion of property, or the expenditure of money raised thereby, 
unless he had paid or was liable to pay a portion of the tax. 
Obviously, town voting lists, canvassed for the days of town 
meetings, could not supply district needs for meetings held at 
other times. A resident of a district qualified to vote could- 
vote, even if his name was not upon the town list (23, 1854; 
26, 1859; 8, 1884). No specified length of residence in a school 
district was necessary to qualify a voter (27, 1892). "Resi- 
dence" was not lost by temporary absence or occupation of 
another domicile (23, 1884); residence, once acquired, was 
retained until abandoned (39, 1894). 



416 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

The law excluded from participation in the district meeting the 
property holder who was not a resident, and from voting on tax 
questions the resident who was not a holder of property liable 
to taxation in the district. The last restriction was imperative 
(25, 1856; 8, 1854). A husband could vote on his wife's prop- 
erty if entitled to curtesy in it (28, 1878). A resident not 
entitled to vote on a tax question could vote in the election of a 
committee to purchase a site and erect a building, the amount 
to be expended having been definitely settled (20, 1848). When 
there was only one taxpaying voter in a district, his vote was 
sufficient to order a tax (52, 1856). Registry voters could par- 
ticipate in a vote requesting a division of a district, because this 
vote involved merely an expression of opinion addressed to the 
school committee, which alone had the power to divide (8, 1854). 
Similarly, a registry voter could participate in a vote to abolish 
school districts and adopt the town plan (102, 1895), because 
the question involved was one of policy and administration 
rather than a tax question. 

Conduct of the Meeting. — The moderator of a district meeting 
was required to put all questions to vote (21, 1848). The clerk 
was bound to record the proceedings as declared by the modera- 
tor (39, 1894). Evidence might be received to correct or supply 
omissions in a district record (22, 1883), but the Commissioner 
of Public Schools had no jurisdiction permitting him to change a 
record (99, 1883). To invalidate the district's action, illegal 
votes must be sufficient in number to change the result (25, 
1856). Under the system of record voting it was possible to 
determine the number of illegal votes and their exact effect. 
On the request of any qualified voter a record vote must be 
taken. The record must include the names of the voters and 
how they voted. Even the election of district officers must be 
by record vote if requested (36, 1893). Refusal by the modera- 
tor to permit a record vote might be sufficient cause to invalidate 
proceedings (35, 1891). The record vote must be demanded 



SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION. 417 

before the beginning of voting; request for it could not interfere 
with a ballot already in progress (30, 1882). The moderator 
had no casting vote; he must vote if at all before the poll was 
closed (39, 1894). 

Union Districts. — Any two or more adjoining districts in the 
same town, by concurrent vote, had the power to unite as joint 
districts to "establish a school for the older and more advanced 
pupils of such districts;" or, with the approval of the school 
committee, had the power to "unite and be consolidated into 
one district for the purpose of supporting public schools," 
losing thereby no portion of public school money. Two or 
more adjoining districts or parts of districts, in adjoining towns, 
could be formed into a joint school district by the school com- 
mittee of such towns concurring therein. The law provided 
for the adjustment of public property rights, on consolidation 
or division of districts. A joint district formed by the con- 
solidation of districts in two towns was dissolved if either town 
abandoned the district system (38, 1894). Under the law of 
1884, which recognized the school, instead of the school district, 
as the unit for apportionment of public school money, a joint 
district maintaining one school counted as only one, without 
regard to the number of districts consolidated (81, 1888). 

The school committee had power to discontinue school dis- 
tricts by merger. Bull vs. School Committee, 11 R. I. 244. 
The right of a town to discontinue all districts once the district 
system was established, and undertake administration by the 
town system, except by unanimous consent, seems to have been 
in doubt. A general power to abolish districts was conferred 
by the General Assembly in 1884, and in 1904 all districts were 
abolished by statute. 

Officers of Districts. — The officers of a school district were a 
moderator, a clerk, a treasurer, a collector of taxes, and one or 
three trustees, as the district decided. Election of officers 



418 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

required a majority vote; it was held that the amendment to 
the Constitution providing for plurality elections, in mentioning 
districts, referred to "voting districts" rather than "school 
districts" (37, 1894). The same person might hold more than 
one office when the duties were not incompatible; thus the 
clerk might be treasurer or collector, but not treasurer and 
collector (13, 1863). The vote to elect one or three trustees 
need not be taken formally each year (31, 1887). If but one 
trustee were elected at the annual meeting, that was an exercise 
of the option to elect one instead of three; two more could not 
be elected at a subsequent meeting within the year (63, 1859; 
Richardson's Appeal, 5 R. I. 606). A board of two trustees was 
not in accordance with statute; where two were elected, it was 
held that one trustee held over from the previous year to com- 
plete the triumvirate (64, 1883). Defeat of the purposes of the 
school law by technicalities affecting individual rights to office 
was prevented by recognition of acts of de facto trustees as 
legal (14, 1864). A trustee could not be removed from office 
during his term without cause (16, 1873; 60, 1853). The res- 
ignation of a trustee did not remove him from office until it was 
accepted by the district; the resignation might be withdrawn 
before being accepted (68, 1891). Registry voters were not 
eligible to election as district officers (14, 1864); district officers 
were not "general officers," and, except in the single instance 
of the school committee, an officer must be a qualified elector 
(9, 1854). Loss of qualification after election did not, however, 
render the trustee ineligible for service (57, 1849); this decision 
must rest, perhaps, on the doctrine of de facto service. 

Powers of Trustees. — The powers and duties of district trustees 
were: To have the custody of the schoolhouse and other 
district property; to hire one or more qualified teachers for 
every 50 scholars in average daily attendance; to provide 
schoolrooms and fuel; to visit schools at least twice during 
each term; to notify the school committee or superintendent 



SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION. 419 

of the time of opening and closing schools; to provide a cabinet 
or bookcase in each schoolroom for the care of the books and 
school supplies; to make out tax bills against persons liable to 
pay them; until tuition was abolished, to make out rate bills; 
until free textbooks were required, to see that scholars were 
provided with books ; to make returns to the school committee 
and the Commissioner of Public Schools; to serve without 
compensation from state or town school money, or from any 
other source except money raised by tax in the district. After 
1881 the t trustee was forbidden to engage himself as teacher, 
but nepotism was not extirpated while he might hire his son 
or his daughter or his "sisters and his cousins and his aunts." 
The trustees, if three, must act always as a board (62, 1856). 
The trustees had no power to insure the district property against 
fire, without express authority (48, 1858; see Holt's Appeal, 
5 R. I. 603). The trustees' power to hire the teacher was ex- 
clusive; the district could not hire the teacher (15, 1868; 62, 
1856). The trustees' power to hire the teacher included the 
power to determine the teacher's wages by contract (61, 1855), 
but the trustees could not reduce the teacher's wages or dismiss 
the teacher (61, 1855), the last power belonging exclusively to 
the school committee (67, 1852; confirmed, 1855, 1861). The 
school teacher must hold a certificate of qualification (66, 1849). 
The dual control of teachers — the power of the school committee 
to certificate and dismiss, the power of the trustees to hire and 
fix compensation — brought the committee and trustees fre- 
quently into conflict. Transfer of the power to hire teachers 
from trustees to school committee, was more than once recom- 
mended as a solution of one of the most irritating problems 
incident to the district system. The right to custody of school- 
houses permitted the trustees some discretion in use; but use 
must be confined to educational purposes (5, 1853). A public 
schoolhouse might be let for a private singing school, provided 
public school sessions were not interfered with, even against the 



420 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

protest of the district (12, 1860. But see Barnes's Appeal, 6 
R. I. 591). 

Summary. — Under the district system, the town elected the 
school committee and raised money for school support by 
taxation. The school district, an involuntary corporation with 
specific, limited powers, managed its school through trustees, 
raised money for school support by taxation or tuition (until 
rate bills were abolished) supplementary to school money 
received from the state and town, and provided schoolrooms 
and teachers. 

THE TOWN SCHOOL COMMITTEE. 

The school committee, under the act of 1828, was an adminis- 
trative agency with liberal powers for school management where 
towns made adequate provision for school support. The Bar- 
nard act not only permitted division of towns into school dis- 
tricts, but also distributed administrative powers betwixt the 
town school committee and the trustees of school districts. 

The general powers of the school committee were: (1) To 
elect a chairman and clerk, (2) to meet quarterly, (3) to form, 
alter and discontinue school districts and settle district bounda- 
ries, (4) to locate schoolhouse sites, (5) to examine and certifi- 
cate teachers and to annul certificates, (6) to visit all schools at 
least twice each term, (7) to suspend or expel incorrigibly bad 
pupils, (8) to prescribe rules and regulations for admission and 
attendance of pupils, and for their classification, studies, books, 
and discipline, and methods of instruction, (9) to fill vacancies 
in their own number pending an election, (10) to apportion state 
and town school money to school districts, and draw orders on 
the treasury therefor, (11) to report annually to the Commis- 
sioner of Public Schools and to the town, (12) to exercise the 
powers prescribed for trustees where the town was not divided 
into districts, (13) to apportion and adjust property rights 
when districts were divided or consolidated, (14) to approve 



SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION. 421 

district taxes and tuition rates, (15) to conduct schools and en- 
gage teachers in districts neglecting to provide schools or hire 
teachers, (16) to make arrangement for the attendance of 
children at schools in towns or districts other than the town or 
district of residence, if more advantageous. These very im- 
portant matters of school administration and management 
were entrusted to district school trustees: (1) The care and 
control of district school buildings, (2) the hiring of schoolrooms 
where no building was provided by the district, (3) the supply- 
ing of fuel and equipment, and (4) the hiring of teachers. 

Criticism of District System. — Theoretically the division of 
powers might prove beneficial. From this point of view, the 
trustees constituted a minor school committee, representing the 
locality and having direct charge and care and control of the 
local school. Local responsibility was emphasized; local 
pride, local ambition to excel and local interest in the school 
should insure strong support and efficient management. More- 
over, beyond the local committee was the town school com- 
mittee, with authority to conserve the interests of the whole 
town in the local school enterprise; with power to regulate and 
standardize essential details, including the making of rules and 
regulations, the selection of textbooks, determining courses of 
study and methods of instruction, etc., and the right to super- 
sede the trustees in instances of total neglect. Consistently 
with the theory of local interest, however, there could be no 
contingency approximating partial neglect, not to mention a 
situation so utterly impossible as one involving total neglect. 

The inherent fallacy of the district system requires no re- 
course to analysis and logic for demonstration; in Rhode Island 
it was proved by practice and experience. As a matter of fact, 
the district system seldom developed earnest emulation or 
rivalry for leadership in excellence. The good school generally 
maintained by the wealthy district was beyond the purse of 
the taxpayers in a poorer community. Gross inequalities were 



422 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

produced by the system, both in taxation for school support 
and in opportunities for education. Effort was scarcely needed 
where tax revenue was abundant; effort might prove almost 
in vain elsewhere. The situation of total neglect seldom de- 
veloped; hence, generally the school committee's influence was 
limited to admonition and moral suasion. The committee's 
powers were negative rather than positive; it could act but 
rarely; it was almost impotent when power was needed to 
enforce its effort for improvement. Taken altogether, in the 
broad light of actual experience, the Barnard act, so far as it 
introduced the school district system in Rhode Island, was a 
recession from the ideal of an independent, centralized school 
organization which appeared clearly in the act of 1828. The 
story of the struggle of more than half a century to recover the 
ground lost by this "reform" has been told in earlier chapters. 

Powers of School Committee. — Of the sixteen powers of school 
committees enumerated, among those not already discussed in 
connection with school districts which warrant consideration 
are the powers to locate schoolhouse sites, to examine and cer- 
tificate teachers, to visit and inspect schools, to make rules and 
regulations for schools, and to apportion school money. 

The school committee has exclusive power to locate school- 
house sites; no other location is legal or binds the town. Dube 
vs. Peck, 22 R. I. 443; Dube vs. Dixon, 27 R. I. 115. The 
power to locate schoolhouse sites was, under the district system, 
an essential corollary to the power to lay out districts; the 
purpose of a careful delineation of district boundaries might be 
defeated were authority to choose the site conferred upon 
another body. Horace Mann and Henry Barnard both be- 
lieved that the schoolhouse should be carried to the child — in 
the sense that it should be conveniently located and easy of 
access. Henry Barnard's earliest report emphasized the im- 
portance of careful attention to location. The geographical 
centre of a rural district might be a mile away from the centre 



SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION. 423 

of population; the confluence of convenient highways must 
not be disregarded. Perhaps it was this last consideration 
which dictated the location of several schoolhouses in the middle 
of the road.* Placing the power to locate the schoolhouse site 
in the hands of the school committee removed this important 
matter from the domain of factional politics in the school dis- 
trict. Location was of almost equal importance under the 
town system, particularly where the area of the town was exten- 
sive and the population scattered or grouped in isolated villages. 
The question of convenient location is raised most frequently 
at the present time in connection with the consolidation of 
small schools for purposes of establishing graded schools, or 
in connection with high schools.f The school committee's 
power to furnish transportation for pupils solves some problems 
of location; the extension of electric traction service has been 
of incalculable value to town school systems in Rhode Island. 
Thus the Mann-Barnard axiom has been reversed, and instead 
of carrying the school to the child, the child is carried to the 
school. 

So important a power as locating the schoolhouse site could 
not be exercised without creating dissatisfaction, if it were no 
more than neighborhood jealously arising from a comparison 
of the distance to be walked by children on their way to and from 
school. On the other hand, in one instance at least, the pro- 
pinquity of the schoolhouse was considered a grievance. It 
was held that a schoolhouse was not a nuisance, and that the 
motive which prompted a gift of a schoolhouse site, if the latter 
was acceptable to the school committee, was immaterial (78, 
1881). In the particular case a district philanthropist donated 
$500, on condition that it be applied to purchasing a lot for a 

* Barnard's first report. The same situation may still be observed in New England 
towns, where ancient public buildings stand in the highway, which divides and passes on 
both sides of the structure, to reunite beyond. 

t For geographical centre, the Warwick high school at Westcott, now West Warwick. 
For population centres, the Cumberland high school at Valley Falls, and the Cranston 
high school. 



424 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

schoolhouse site next to the dwelling house of the appellant, 
with whom the philanthropist was not on good terms; the 
appellant, who alleged that the philanthropist was actuated 
by spite, was without a remedy. 

An early decision (Gardner's Appeal, 4 R. I. 602, 1858) that 
the school committee's selection of a schoolhouse site was 
final, and that no appeal therefrom lay to the Commissioner 
of Public Schools, was overruled. CottrelVs Appeal, 10 R. I. 
615, 1874. Vastly more important for school administration 
than the narrow point decided by the ruling case was the broad 
principle upon which the decision rested. The earlier case had 
declared that the appellate jurisdiction of the Commissioner 
of Public Schools was limited to reviewing actions of a school 
committee which involved an infraction of law ; the later decis- 
ion enunciated the doctrine that the Commissioner of Public 
Schools might hear and decide appeals from lawful acts of a 
school committee lying within the discretionary exercise of 
authority conferred by law. The Commissioner's appellate 
jurisdiction thus became supervisory and administrative, not 
merely remedial. 

When, in due course of time, the necessity appeared for pro- 
viding a method of condemning land for school purposes, it was 
natural that the new power should be conferred upon the school 
committee.* The condemnatory procedure was simple in 
detail, as befitted the design to make it effective in the hands 
of laymen unacquainted with the technicalities of law. In its 
earliest form the statute provided that the school committee, 
after selecting and locating a site for a schoolhouse, which the 
school district had voted to build, should agree with the owners 
as to the price to be paid, or, failing to reach an agreement, 
should appoint three appraisers to determine the value; upon 
tender of the price named by the appraisers, title passed. The 
appraisers were required to hear the owners of the land and 

* Act of 1859. 



SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION. 425 

representatives of the district, both present at the same time 
(95, 1863). Both the district's vote to build and the school 
committee's choice of a site must precede condemnation, 
although either might precede the other, the statute prescribing 
no particular order. Condemnation through appraisal and 
tender could not proceed until an attempt to reach an agree- 
ment with the owner had failed (17, 1885; 18, 1887; 19, 1888. 
Howland vs. School District, 15 R. I. 185). As perfected, the 
statute provides that title to property condemned for school 
purposes shall pass when the school committee files in the town 
records a plat or description of the site; that the school com- 
mittee thereafter may agree with the owners as to the price, 
and that the owners, in default of agreement, may petition the 
Superior Court for an assessment by a jury. 

Certificates of Teachers.— -The school district trustee hired the 
school teacher, but the teacher must hold a certificate of quali- 
fication issued by the school committee, a county inspector or 
the Commissioner of Public Schools.* The school committee 
might refuse to examine a candidate for a certificate if his moral 
character was known to be unsatisfactory (82, 1855) . A certifi- 
cate issued by a school committee did not qualify the holder 
to teach in a secondary (grammar) school ; it was limited to one 
year and to the town of issue. The committee might further 
limit its certificate to a particular school (68, 1852; 69, 1852). 
The school committee had power to annul certificates for good 
cause (69, 1852), but a teacher holding a certificate was entitled 
to notice and a hearing before annulment (83, 1855). The 
power to annul could not be exercised by a single member of 
the committee (83, 1855), or delegated to the clerk of the com- 
mittee (68, 1852; 69, 1852). When the power to dismiss the 
teacher was created by statute, it was conferred upon the school 
committee; the district trustee, who hired, could not dismiss the 
teacher (67, 1852; affirmed 1855 and 1861). The school com- 

* Barnard act. See chapters 6 and 10 for development of certification. 



426 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

mittee could dismiss a teacher holding a county certificate (83, 
1855) : Semble, the school committee still possesses the power 
to dismiss a teacher for cause, although the committee no longer 
possesses the power to certificate teachers. A teacher without 
a certificate (66, 1849), or a teacher dismissed by the school 
committee (82, 1855) could not draw teachers' money. Under 
the town system, however, a school committee that hired a 
teacher without examination and certification, waiving its 
right to examine before hiring, bound the town for the teacher's 
wages (85, 1895) ; the committee was not allowed to set up its 
own unlawful act, to defeat an action on a contract. Under 
the district system the town was not liable for the teacher's 
wages unless the school committee issued an order on the town 
treasurer therefor (97, 1877); the district was the debtor, 
though state and town school money available for the payment 
of teachers in district schools was in the town treasury. The 
certification of teachers became exclusively a function of the 
State Board of Education in 1898. 

Visitation and Inspection. — The school committee's power to 
visit and inspect schools was a duty as well as a privilege, two 
visits each term being required. How the town council of 
Providence thrust this burdensome obligation upon the school 
committee, when the latter body was secondary to the council, 
has been related. The importance of the visitorial power was 
emphasized in the evolution of the system of school administra- 
tion in Providence. After experimenting with visitation and 
examination by committees of clergymen, the notion of expert 
superintendence was carried to fruition under the leadership of 
Dorr. Delegation of the visitorial power had become a practice 
in some Rhode Island towns previous to 1850; the revised 
school law of 1851 permitted towns to employ superintendents 
of schools. Twenty years later the employment of a super- 
intendent became compulsory through the statutory require- 
ment that the school committee appoint a superintendent where 



SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION. 427 

the town failed to elect one.* Although the school committee 
was given exclusive power to elect the superintendent of schools 
in 1884, the influence of town meeting control remained effective 
while the town regulated the superintendent's salary, as it did 
until 1902. In 1903 the state undertook to promote the im- 
provement of supervision through payment of part of the salaries 
of full-time expert superintendents. 

The power to visit and inspect was a corollary to the power to 
make rules and regulations for the government of schools. The 
district trustees were required to notify the school committee 
of the time of opening and closing schools, that the school com- 
mittee might make the two visits required by statute, within 
two weeks of the beginning and ending of the term. The lan- 
guage of the statute creating the power to make rules and regu- 
lations was liberal. The admission and exclusion of pupils, the 
conduct of schools, methods of instruction, and selection of 
textbooks and courses of study were within the jurisdiction of 
the school committee. Still, the school committee wanted the 
powers to compel a gradation of schools (69, 1852), to enforce 
a school term longer than the statutory minimum, to select the 
teacher and to determine salaries whereby to insure high grade 
instruction; even the power to dismiss an unsatisfactory teacher 
must be exercised with discretion and caution, lest avoidance 
of the evil of poor instruction involve the closing of a school. 

Division of School Money. — Finally, the power to apportion 
school money was less flexible under the Barnard act than it had 
been previously. One of the reforms proposed by Henry Bar- 
nard had been the adoption of a ratio for apportioning school 
money, which would insure an equitable distribution. The 
purpose of the reform was to prevent discrimination of an unfair 
sort; the reform ripened into a statutory ratio for the appor- 
tionment of state school money determined by the number of 

* The city council succeeded the town meeting, and had power to elect the superintendent 
of schools. Verry vs. School Committee, 12 R I. 578. 



428 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

school districts and average daily attendance, while the dis- 
tribution of town school money was at the discretion of the 
school committee, when the town made no specific order for 
distribution. Town school money tended to be most con- 
spicuous for the want thereof in the earlier years under the 
Barnard act. The ultimate consequence of the Barnard law 
was practically an equal division, wealthy and poorer districts 
sharing very nearly alike. Later statutes tended to make the 
power to apportion school money more ministerial and less 
discretionary as ratios of distribution were "perfected."* The 
abolition of districts solved the problem by disposing of it; 
the power to apportion to schools replaced the power to appor- 
tion to districts, with the basis of distribution founded almost 
inevitably upon standardization. Comparison makes gross 
contrast between school conditions within a town odious, 
unendurable and impossible of maintenance; and practically 
forbids an inequitable distribution. Equality of school oppor- 
tunity must succeed equality of apportionment as the true test 
for the division of school money. 

Weakness of District System. — In the review of five of the 
sixteen powers of the town school committee — the powers to 
locate schoolhouse sites, to certificate teachers, to visit and 
inspect schools, to make rules and regulations and to apportion 
school money — three new powers have appeared — the powers 
to condemn land for school purposes, to dismiss unsatisfactory 
teachers and to appoint a superintendent of schools — all im- 
portant, substantial powers, tending to strengthen the position 
of the school committee. Yet the same review has disclosed 
lamentable weakness, arising from the division of powers 
betwixt the school committee and the school district organiza- 
tion. Together, the powers conferred on school committee 
and upon school district were ample, had they been conferred 
upon one body; when the powers were divided betwixt two 

* See chapter on School Finance — Apportionment, for history of ratio. 



SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION. 429 

bodies the school committee became an advisory rather than 
an executive body, where force was needed for improvement. 
The school committee could locate the schoolhouse site and 
approve the plans for building, but it could not compel the 
building of a schoolhouse; the school committee could approve 
or disapprove a proposed district school tax, but it could not 
compel the district to assess a tax; the school committee could 
examine, certificate and dismiss teachers, but the power to hire 
the teacher and to fix his compensation rested with the trustee ; 
the committee could make rules and regulations, but could not 
compel a district to grade its school. The presumably superior 
body, selected by a larger electorate, averaging higher intel- 
lectually in all probability because of the wider selection, was 
balked by the school district or the well-entrenched district 
trustee, himself a taxpayer and a representative of the tax- 
payers — at the same time that the district derived no small 
part of the school revenue raised within the district from rate 
bills. These evils were swept away when school districts were 
abolished. 

The loss of the committee's power to examine and certificate 
teachers, already noted, as the power passed to a higher au- 
thority,* marked a forward step in the direction of standardiza- 
tion for the schools of the state as a whole. The school com- 
mittee's power to fill vacancies — embracing under the act of 
1845 the replacing of district trustees as well as school com- 
mitteemen — was abridged as to trusteeships by the revised 
school law of 1851, and lost altogether in the revision of the 
statutes in 1872. Except as in Providence, where under a 
special law ward delegations fill vacancies in their own mem- 
bership, the town council fills vacancies in the town school com- 
mittee until the following annual or biennial election. To the 
powers thus lost must be added those which were merely inci- 
dental to the district organization, and which passed away with 

* The State Board of Education, 1898. 



430 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

the abolition of the district system. These were the powers to 
form, alter and discontinue districts and settle district bounda- 
ries ; to apportion school money to school districts ; to apportion 
and adjust property rights when districts were divided, altered 
or consolidated; to approve district school taxes and tuition 
rates, and to supersede trustees where districts failed to main- 
tain schools. Their loss was more than compensated for by 
powers gained by the school committee, which previously had 
been exercised by district trustees. These were the powers to 
have the custody, care and control of school property; to pro- 
vide fuel and equipment for schools; to employ teachers; to 
provide textbooks for indigent pupils, and, in general, to manage 
and direct schools. In the metamorphosis the school com- 
mittee became an executive where it had been merely a coun- 
sellor with little power to enforce its advice. 

Rehabilitation of the School Committee.— Through the abolition 
of school districts the town school committee was rehabilitated ; 
it returned to possession of the liberal powers conferred upon it 
by the earlier school acts, from 1828 to the Barnard act. These 
powers had been defined more and more clearly as school legis- 
lation was perfected. Stokes declares that one cause for dis- 
satisfaction pervading the Providence school committee was 
its own inferior position and subserviency to the city council 
when compared with the freedom from restraint enjoyed by 
town school committees. These were the powers and duties 
with which the town school committee emerged from the 
abandonment of the school district system: (1) Exclusively 
to care for, control and manage, subject to the supervision of 
the Commissioner of Public Schools, all the public school 
interests of the town, and to draw all orders on the town treasury 
for the payment of school expenses; (2) to organize by choice 
of a chairman and clerk, and to hold at least four regular meet- 
ings annually; (3) to visit and inspect schools; (4) to elect a 
superintendent of schools; (5) to make rules and regulations 



SCHOOL ADMINISTEATION. 431 

for the attendance and classification of pupils, for the intro- 
duction of textbooks, and for the instruction, government and 
discipline of public schools; (6) to locate schoolhouse sites and 
to condemn land for school purposes ; (7) to abandon and change 
the location of schoolhouses; (8) to change textbooks, by two- 
thirds vote of the committee, not oftener than once in three 
years without permission of the State Board of Education; 
(9) to select and dismiss teachers; (10) to prescribe courses of 
study; (11) to provide for attendance of children at schools in 
neighboring towns if more convenient; (12) to suspend in- 
corrigibly bad pupils or persistent violators of rules and regula- 
tions; (13) to report annually to the Commissioner of Public 
Schools, and (14) to report annually to the town meeting. The 
following additional powers have been conferred upon the school 
committee, some prior to complete abolition of the district 
system, others later: (15) To provide each schoolhouse with a 
United States flag and to cause the flag to be displayed during 
school hours; (16) to provide free textbooks and supplies for 
all pupils; (17) to approve private schools for purposes of school 
attendance in lieu of compulsory attendance at public schools; 
(18) to take an annual school census; (19) to provide for free 
attendance of children at high schools or academies in other 
towns where the town of residence has not provided a high 
school; (20) to appoint truant officers; (21) to issue age and 
employment certificates under the compulsory attendance law; 

(22) at discretion to establish and maintain open-air schools; 

(23) at discretion to appoint school physicians and provide 
medical inspection for public and private schools; and (24) 
to provide public dental clinics for pupils needing dental treat- 
ment. 

The last three powers may stand as examples of the permissive 
form of school legislation in Rhode Island, usually the forerunner 
of mandatory statutes. Of similar origin was the mandatory 
statute compelling the appointment of a superintendent of 



432 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

schools, and the statute requiring towns to provide high schools 
or pay tuition for pupils at high schools or academies in other 
towns was first permissive in form. First made an obligation 
of the town in 1878, the taking of the school census became a 
duty of the school committee in 1900. The law of 1883 per- 
mitting towns to appoint truant officers was made compulsory 
by penalty in 1887; in 1901 the power and duty to appoint 
truant officers passed to the school committee. The changes 
affecting the school census and truant officers both aimed at 
greater efficiency, and both were consistent with the principle 
of centralizing school authority in the school committee. The 
strongest influences restraining the school committee are the 
quasi-referendum incidental to re-election, and the amount of 
school money placed at the committee's disposal by the town. 
The school money distributed annually by the state, the annual 
appropriation required of the town, poll taxes, dog taxes and 
certain fines are at the committee's disposal; beyond these the 
committee must look for funds to the town meeting or the city 
council. Hence it is a paramount duty of the school committee 
so to conduct the schools of the town that they shall maintain 
a public consciousness of the town's obligation to the children 
ofthe town, as well as stimulate a public pride — that wholly 
meritorious pride which arises from the feeling that a public 
function is being exercised well. Spiritual values there are in 
schools quite as important as those which are purely intellectual, 
useful and efficient. Membership in a school committee offers 
a splendid opportunity for public service of the highest type. 

THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION. 

It is not necessary at this point to trace again in detail the 
history of the changing fortunes of the state department of 
education.* A suggestive outline recalls state aid for public 
schools without a central school organization from 1828 to 

*See chapters 4 and 5. 



SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION. 433 

1845; the brilliant prestige of the Commissioner of Public Schools 
established by Barnard and so well maintained by Potter; a 
period of declining influence and of arrested progress under 
Allyn, Kingsbury, Rousmaniere and Chapin; revival through 
the impetuous, restless vigor of Bicknell; renaissance in the 
creation of the State Board of Education; steady progress 
toward perfection of the ideal of universal free public education 
under the leadership of Stockwell; and extension and improve- 
ment through the combined efforts of the State Board of Educa- 
tion and the two Commissioners of Public Schools of the modern 
period— Stockwell and Ranger. The outline emphasizes person- 
ality. Personality is the dynamic influence in school adminis- 
tration, for which law supplies the mechanics. So potential is 
personality in determining the efficiency of school administra- 
tion that it may not be ignored in writing narrative school 
history. This chapter deals with the machinery of school 
administration, that is, with the school law. 

Early Powers of Commissioner. —The Barnard act created the 
office of Commissioner of Public Schools, and authorized, em- 
powered and obligated the Commissioner (1) to apportion state 
aid to towns maintaining public schools, (2) to adjust and 
decide disputes arising under the school law, (3) to visit and 
inspect schools, and to suggest and recommend improvement, 
(4) to promote uniformity of textbooks, (5) to assist in the or- 
ganization of public libraries, (6) to establish teachers' institutes 
and a normal school, (7) to issue teachers' certificates, (8) to 
appoint county inspectors, (9) to prepare forms for and to 
require reports from town school committees, and (10) to report 
annually to the General Assembly. The power to establish a 
normal school was ineffective for want of an appropriation. 
The power to appoint county inspectors, forecasting perhaps a 
system of school superintendence by state officers, was pre- 
destined to failure because no provision was made for salaries. 
Teachers failed to appreciate the professional dignity of higher 



434 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

certification, and the power to examine teachers and issue cer- 
tificates practically lapsed through disuse, a result accelerated 
no doubt by the town school committee's jealous maintenance 
of its own right to examine teachers. The powers to recom- 
mend school improvement after visit and inspection had dis- 
closed faults, to promote uniformity of textbooks, to establish 
teachers' institutes and to assist public libraries were hortative 
rather than effective. The influence that usually attaches 
to the power to apportion money was wanting because the 
Commissioner's function was ministerial. He was a pay- 
master, bound by a scale established by law. He might with- 
hold public money only when a town failed to maintain a school 
or to report; he must pay if the town reported having kept a 
school — whatever the quality. As a superior school officer his 
most effective power rested on his judicial authority as an 
adjuster of differences; beyond that he must exert influence 
through persuasion or through appeal to the General Assem- 
bly for legislation. * Yet, in spite of its many almost pa- 
thetic weaknesses, the Barnard law did in fact establish a 
state department of education, a system of comprehensive 
school reports, and a state officer one of whose functions, as 
an educational expert, was the interpretation of these reports 
for the General Assembly. Perhaps it was better, in individual- 
istic Rhode Island, that the state department of education 
should acquire an accession of power from small beginnings 
gradually, than that completion should rest upon the fiat of a 
single act of the General Assembly. 

A Law Written for a Man. — The Commissioner of Public 
Schools, under the Barnard Act, was a paymaster-statistician- 
judge in the exercise of his effective powers; beyond these, he 
was a dynamic agent for school improvement. Henry Barnard 
had written a statute creating an office which he was admirably 
fitted to occupy. He had performed a task much like that of a 
playwright building a drama about and around the personality 



SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION. 435 

of a great actor. The art of the actor in the setting which the 
playwright creates for him is perfect because it is natural; the 
player is himself. The work of the playwright is perfect in so 
far as it imposes no restriction upon the individuality of the 
player in the principal role. This is the finesse of subordination 
that has become co-ordination. An understudy whose feet 
barely reach the boards in his mimicry of the great actor, some- 
times directs the analysis of criticism to the play itself, and the 
distinction between the eternal and the ephemeral dawns. The 
critic reaches the threshold of a viewpoint from which the works 
of Shakespeare, Sheridan, Goldsmith and Pinero, writing for the 
actors of all time, range in proper perspective with vehicles 
constructed for a single performer's expression of his idiosyn- 
crasies. The Barnard act was written by Henry Barnard for 
Henry Barnard. It was the work of a schoolman rather than 
a jurist; for, though he had been admitted to the bar in Con- 
necticut, Henry Barnard had not become a great lawyer. 
Elisha R. Potter's redrafting of the Barnard law gave it legal 
diction and legal form, where it had smacked of amateur crafts- 
manship. 

The powers entrusted to the Commissioner were not sufficient 
to attract a strong man to the office. Yet, partly because the 
men who succeeded Henry Barnard possessed many of his 
excellent qualities, and partly because the people of Rhode 
Island realized the importance of school improvement and were 
generous in their support of schools, educational progress was 
continuous, although not at an evenly maintained rate. A 
thoroughly incompetent Commissioner might have permitted 
retroaction; a recalcitrant town, persistent in its refusal to 
measure up to standards, might have broken down the system. 
There were times when the public schools seemed to mark time 
rather than to advance. But it is worthy of note that progress, 
though sometimes arrested, never completely stopped, and that 
the judicial decision which disclosed the weakness of a system 



436 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN EHODE ISLAND. 

of schools built upon a permissive rather than a mandatory 
statute (Wixon vs. Newport, 13 R. I. 454) involved litigation 
of other than a school question. No Rhode Island town was so 
completely unresponsive to persuasion that compulsion must 
be invoked. The Barnard law was enforced, it might be said, 
by mutual consent; and there was no resistance when the 
school law became mandatory in 1882. 

There were three ways of strengthening the hands of the 
Commissioner of Public Schools as an executive-administrator. 
First, increasing the number of his powers; second, improving 
the quality of his powers by making them effective rather than 
hortative, persuasive and ministerial; third, strengthening the 
authority of his persuasion by creating a representative board 
or council for which he should act in his capacity as dynamic 
agent, and which should assume responsibility in matters of 
policy. What Henry Barnard's solution of the problem might 
be is matter for conjecture. Illness compelled him to resign 
before the improvement which he stimulated had spent itself. 
That the Commissioner's powers were neither increased in 
number nor improved in quality in 1851 was due, probably, 
to the influence of Commissioner Potter, who was a strong 
exponent of Rhode Island individualism. Commissioner Potter 
did suggest the third expedient, and presented to the General 
Assembly in 1855 a bill creating a board of education, which, 
however, failed of enactment. Subsequent Commissioners were 
either satisfied with the law as they found it, or wielded too little 
influence in the General Assembly to induce a change, until 
Commissioner Bicknell grasped a great opportunity to recom- 
mend the creation of a board of education, and the General 
Assembly responded favorably in 1870. 

Board of Education Created, 1870. — The Board of Education 
was given "general supervision and control of the public 
schools . . . with such high schools, normal schools and 
normal institutes as are or may be established and maintained 



SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION. 437 

wholly or in part by the state." Its early powers were prin- 
cipally advisory, however, except that it elected the Com- 
missioner of Public Schools, who became ex-officio secretary of 
the Board, and that it reported to the General Assembly, the 
Commissioner thereafter reporting to the Board. The powers 
of the State Board of Education in the order of their creation 
are: 

1. To maintain general supervision and control of the public 
schools of the state. 1870. 

2. To prescribe and cause to be enforced all rules and 
regulations necessary for carrying into effect the laws in relation 
to public schools. 1870. 

3. To report annually to the General Assembly. 1870. 

4. With the Commissioner of Public Schools to manage the 
Rhode Island Normal School as a board of trustees, admit 
students thereto and pay the travelling expenses of students. 
1871. 

5. To elect the Commissioner of Public Schools. 1872. 

6. To apportion to the several towns the state's annual 
appropriation for evening schools. 1873. 

7. To apportion state aid to free public libraries, approve 
books to be counted in establishing a basis for aid, and rules 
for public libraries to insure use thereof to the public, con- 
venient and free of charge. 1875. 

8. To supervise payment of state aid to the Rhode Island 
School of Design, to appoint two of its members to be members 
of the board of directors thereoi, and to appoint state bene- 
ficiaries of free scholarships. 1882-1884. 

9. To register private schools, to furnish school registers for 
private schools, to require and receive reports from private 
schools, to visit and inspect private schools. 1892. 

10. To receive annual reports from all educational institu- 
tions supported wholly or in part by the state. 1892. 

11. To supervise the education of deaf, blind and imbecile 
children of school age. 1892. 

12. To examine teachers and issue certificates of qualifica- 
tion and eligibility to teach. 1898. 

13. To approve courses of study in high schools and stand- 
ards for high schools as conditions precedent to paying state 
aid to high schools. 1898. 

14. To certificate school superintendents. 1908. 

15. To administer the teachers' pension law. 1909. 



438 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

16. To present a financial report annually to the State 
Auditor. 1910. 

17. To establish and aid travelling libraries and provide 
for visitation and examination of free public libraries. 1911. 

18. To provide for the education of adult blind persons in 
their homes. 1911. 

19. To approve standards of lighting, heating, ventilating, 
seating and other sanitary arrangements for school buildings, 
and proper regulations concerning the same, and communicate 
them to town authorities. 1911. 

20. To apportion state aid to towns providing medical 
inspection for public and private schools. 1911. 

21. To establish post-graduate courses in education in co- 
operation with the corporation of Brown University, and to 
appoint beneficiaries to state scholarships in such courses. 
1912. 

22. To apportion state aid to towns establishing instruction 
in manual training and household arts and courses in vocational 
industrial education. 1913. 

23. To provide for the care and maintenance of children 
under school age who are born blind or become blind. 1913. 

24. To apportion state aid, upon recommendation of the 
Commissioner of Public Schools, to towns whose taxable prop- 
erty is not sufficient at the average rate of taxation throughout 
the state to provide public schools of high standard. 1913. 

25. To provide, in co-operation with town school com- 
mittees, professional school supervision for towns which had 
not previous to 1915 availed themselves of the law providing 
state aid for supervision. 1915. 

26. To provide badges for youthful street venders in cities 
with more than 70,000 population. 1915. 

27. To appoint state scholars at the Rhode Island College 
of Pharmacy. 1916. 

28. To administer the law for physical education and prepare 
a syllabus. 1917. 

29. To serve as a State Board for Vocational Education, 
under the Federal Act for the promotion of Vocational Educa- 
tion, passed by Congress and approved by the President, 
April 23, 1917. 

Powers of the State Board of Education. — A grouping of the 
powers of the State Board of Education based upon a classifi- 
cation as to subject matter affords a better means of measuring 
the efficiency of the Board's functions within the jurisdiction 



SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION. 439 

assigned to it than a recital in the chronological order of creation. 
In the grouping which follows it will be noted that the Board's 
functions are generally effective, and that in apportioning money 
the Board's function is executive and discretionary; as a rule, 
it may insist upon standards and withhold money unless the 
conditions prescribed by the Board are complied with: 

I. Schools. 

1. Public Schools. The board maintains general supervision 

and control, and may establish rules and regula- 
tions necessary for carrying into effect the laws in 
relation to public schools. 

a. Evening Schools. The board apportions, at dis- 

cretion, an annual appropriation for the support of 
evening schools. 

b. High Schools. The board's approval of courses of 

study, and approximation to standards estab- 
lished by the board are conditions precedent to 
drawing state money appropriated to aid high 
'• schools. Towns are required to maintain high 
schools or provide high school education. 

c. Special Aid. The board, at discretion, on recom- 

mendation of the Commissioner of Public Schools, 
apportions an annual appropriation to assist towns 
unable, at the average rate of taxation throughout 
the state, to maintain schools of high standard. 

d. Vocational and Industrial. The board apportions 

a state appropriation for the support of courses 
which it approves; and also apportions Federal 
aid for vocational education. 

e. Medical Inspection and Sanitation. The board ap- 

portions an appropriation for medical inspection, 
and may establish (but not enforce) standards for 
lighting, heating, ventilating, seating and sanita- 
tion in school buildings. 

f. Supervision. The board, in co-operation with school 

committees, may provide professional supervision 
for towns not drawing state aid for supervision 
previous to 1915. 

2. Private Schools. The board registers and requires reports 

from private schools, and has the right to visit and 
inspect them. The approval of private schools for 
purposes of attendance in lieu of attendance at 
public schools, rests with town school committees. 



440 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

II. Teachers and Supervision. 

1. Education of Teachers. 

a. The Board and Commissioner, as a board of trustees, 

conduct the Rhode Island Normal School. 

b. The Board maintains post-graduate courses in educa- 

tion at Brown University and appoints benefi- 
ciaries to free state scholarships in the department. 

c. Improvement of Teachers in Service. Extension 

courses at Normal School, post-graduate courses 
at Brown University, teachers' courses at School 
of Design. 

2. Examination and Certification. The board examines and 

licenses all public school teachers and superin- 
tendents employed in the state. 

3. Teachers' Pensions. The board administers the pension 

law. 

III. Institutions. 

1. Normal School. The Board and Commissioner are the 

Board of Trustees. 

2. School of Design. Two members of Board of Education 

serve as members of the board of directors. 

3. Other Institutions. All educational institutions sup- 

ported wholly or in part by state appropriations, 
report annually to the State Board of Education. 

IV. Industrial and Vocational Education. 

1. In Public Schools. The board apportions a state appro- 

priation and Federal aid for vocational courses. 

2. School of Design. Besides participating in the man- 

agement, the board supervises the payment of 
state appropriations for support, and appoints to 
free state scholarships. The textile department 
is supported principally by the state. 

3. Rhode Island College of Pharmacy. Scholarships and 

reports. 

4. See Education of Teachers. 

V. Education of Defective Classes. 

1. The Board of Education supervises the education of deaf, 
blind and imbecile children of school age. 



SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION. 441 

a. Deaf. The R. I. Institute for the Deaf, under 

management of another board, reports to the 
State Board of Education. 

b. Blind. The State Board of Education supervises 

and provides education for blind children of school 
age, generally by appointment as beneficiaries at 
institutions for the blind. For indigent children 
under school age, born blind or becoming blind, 
the board may provide care and maintenance. 
For the adult blind the board provides education 
in their homes. 

c. Other state institutions maintaining schools report to 

the board. 

VI. Free Public Libraries. 

1 . State Aid. The board apportions state aid for free public 

libraries, based upon the number of books in each 
library approved by the board, and also prescribes 
rules and regulations intended to secure free use 
of books to public. 

2. Travelling Libraries. The board maintains and aids 

travelling free public libraries. 

3. Library Visitor. The board employs a library visitor, to 

visit and inspect free public libraries. 

VII. Reports. 

1 . The board receives reports from — 

a. The Commissioner of Public Schools. 

b. Private schools. 

c. All educational institutions supported wholly or in 

part by public money. 

2. The board reports to — 

a. The General Assembly. 

b. The State Auditor. 

VIII. The board elects the Commissioner of Public Schools. 
THE COMMISSIONER OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 

The purpose of creating the State Board of Education seems 
to have been, in the first instance, the provision of moral force 
to strengthen the hands of the Commissioner of Public Schools 
in the exercise of his advisory functions. Certain powers of the 
Commissioner were transferred by subsequent legislation to the 



442 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

State Board of Education, notably the powers to establish a 
normal school and to certificate teachers. While the Commis- 
sioner retained the power to assist public libraries by advice, 
the Board acquired the greater power to regulate public libraries 
and aid them with money. The power to appoint county 
inspectors was abolished, and the Commissioner was removed 
from direct contact with the General Assembly through the 
direction of his annual report to the Board instead of to the 
Assembly. The Commissioner became secretary of the Board, 
and was associated with it as one of the members of the Board 
of Trustees of the Normal School. In the 48 years since 1870 
the State Board of Education has accumulated the imposing 
array of powers and functions already enumerated. What has 
become of the Commissioner of Public Schools meanwhile? 
is the question naturally suggested. Has the paymaster- 
statistician-judge and dynamic agent of the quarter-century 
from 1845 to 1870 become merely an executive secretary for the 
State Board of Education? As such his influence would be 
extensive and impressive. But the General Assembly, at the 
same time that it widened the jurisdiction of the State Board 
of Education has increased the powers of the Commissioner of 
Public Schools. The powers of the Commissioner of Public 
Schools, in the order of their creation are as follows : 

1. To visit as often as practicable every town in the state, for 
the purpose of inspecting the schools and diffusing as widely 
as possible by public addresses and personal communication 
with school officers, teachers and parents a knowledge of the 
defects, and of desirable improvements in the administration 
of the system and the government and instruction of the schools. 
1845. 

2. To recommend and bring about as far as is practicable a 
uniformity of textbooks in the schools of all the towns. 1845. 

3. To apportion the state's appropriation of teachers' money. 
1845. The amount of the appropriation has been increased 
from $25,000 to $120,000. 

4. To provide teachers' institutes. 1845. 

5. To assist in the establishment and selection of books for 
free public libraries. 1845. 



SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION. 443 

6. To furnish blanks for annual reports required from school 
committees. 1845. 

7. To hear and decide appeals in disputes arising under the 
school law. 1845. 

8. To supervise the public schools generally. 1845. 

9. To direct courses of study, prescribed by town school 
committees. 1845. 

10. To provide lectures on educational topics, to publish and 
distribute educational publications, and to promote the cause 
of education in the state. 1845. 

11. To provide registers for public schools. 1846. 

12. To remit fines and penalties, 1846. Except state money 
forfeited by failure of a town to raise its quota of school money. 
1848. By and with the consent of the State Board of Education 
after 1874. 

13. /To report to the State Treasurer forfeitures of state 
school money. 1848. 

14. To serve ex-officio as secretary of the State Board of 
Education. 1870. 

15. To report annuallv to the State Board of Education. 
1870. 

16. To serve as a member of the Board of Trustees of the 
Rhode Island Normal School. 1871. 

17. To draw orders, approved by the State Board of Educa- 
tion, for payment of state aid to free public libraries. 1875. 

18. To provide blanks for taking the school census. 1878. 

19. To apportion to towns state aid for the purchase of 
dictionaries, encyclopedias, reference works, maps, charts, 
globes and other school apparatus. 1880. 

20. To prepare and distribute a printed programme for 
Arbor Day. 1891. 

21. To approve applications for state aid for high schools 
and to towns consolidating ungraded schools and establishing 
in their stead graded schools. 1898. 

22. To prepare and distribute a printed programme for 
Grand Army Flag Day. 1901. 

23. To apportion state aid for the payment of salaries of 
superintendents of schools. 1903. 

24. To enforce the teachers' certificate law by withholding 
state aid when towns hire teachers without certificates. 1903. 

25. To prepare and distribute a printed programme for 
Rhode Island Independence Day. 1908. 

26. To serve as a member of the Board of Managers of the 
Rhode Island State College. 1909. 



444 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

27. To report annually to the State Auditor a complete 
statement of bills and accounts incurred, due and remaining 
unpaid, and a statement of unexpended balances of school 
appropriations. 1910. 

28. To appoint an Assistant Commissioner. 1910. 

29. To furnish test cards, appliances, record books and 
rules for conducting sight and hearing tests. 1911. 

30. To formulate a uniform code for fire drills. 1912. 

31. To determine, under the age and employment certificate 
law, what evidence of a child's age shall be received when the 
birth or baptismal certificate or passport of the child cannot be 
found. 1913. 

32. To recommend to the State Board of Education an 
apportionment of the appropriation for special aid. 1913. 

33. To appoint two physicians in Providence to make 
examinations of children who apply for age and employment 
certificates. 1915. 

34. To visit schools conducted in institutions under the care 
of the Penal and Charitable Commission, and to make recom- 
mendations for their conduct and improvement. 1917. 

35. To furnish blanks for dental inspection. 1917. 

36. To serve as State Director of Vocational Education. 
1918. 

The Commissioner of Public Schools is still a paymaster; 
he apportions, generally by ratios fixed by law, four annual 
appropriations, which aggregate in excess of $170,000. He is 
still a statistician and a judge; the latter function is of far 
greater importance than the number of appeals actually heard 
and decided indicates, now that the abolition of the district 
system has swept away one field for prolific discord. His advice 
is sought frequently in advance of decisive action which might 
be made the basis of litigation, and he is able through diplomatic 
negotiation sometimes to guide those on the verge of dispute 
to a peaceful solution of a vexing problem. His appellate 
jurisdiction lends force to his counsel, as it makes him also a 
recognized arbitrator and conciliator. 

On the dynamic side, the Commissioner of Public Schools is 
still a school visitor, an adviser of school authorities, a counsellor 
of teachers, the prime mover in teachers' institutes, a publisher 



SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION, 445 

of educational documents and printed programmes for days of 
special school observance. He has become an important factor 
in the administration of the school interest in the age and em- 
ployment certificate law. He holds four offices by virtue of 
being Commissioner of Public Schools: He is Secretary of the 
State Board of Education, Secretary of the State Board for 
Vocational Education, a Trustee of the Rhode Island Normal 
School, and one of the Board of Managers of the Rhode Island 
State College. He is also the state's recognized representative 
in interstate educational relations. 

Some notion of the activities of the Commissioner of Public 
Schools may be gleaned from a list of the twenty-five divisions 
of service in his office: 1. General supervision and control of 
public schools, rules for instruction and government of schools, 
courses of study, etc. 2. Division of accounts. 3. Reports 
and recommendations. 4. Special reports. 5. Training of 
teachers; Normal School. 6. Certification of teachers and 
superintendents. 7. Teachers' institutes. 8. Teachers' pen- 
sions. 9. Public libraries. 10. Travelling libraries. 11. State 
free scholarships. 12. Education of blind children. 13. Edu- 
cation of adult blind. 14. Relations of state with private in- 
stitutions of learning. 15. Publications. 16. Appeals. 17. 
Registers, blanks, supplies, etc. 18. Apportionment of appro- 
priations. 19. Board meetings, conferences and addresses. 
20. Interstate relations. 21. Age and employment certifi- 
cates. 22. Visitation of schools. 23. General correspondence. 
24. Vocational education. 25. Miscellaneous. 

The. Unwritten Law. — An analysis of the powers of the Com- 
missioner of Public Schools which ventures not beyond the literal 
provisions of the statutes and a liberal interpretation of these 
fails to disclose a function belonging to the Commissioner which 
is perhaps paramount to his authority by reason of the 
written law. This undisclosed function lies in his relation 
to the State Board of Education. In his capacity as executive 



446 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

agent for the State Board of Education he wields extensive and 
effective authority, but no careful student of the school law 
familiar with the legal notion of principal and agent, need be 
deceived nor hesitate to distinguish the powers which are 
actually the Commissioner's, and those which are delegated to 
him, in the exercise of the latter of which his function is truly 
ministerial. He is elected annually by the Board of Education 
and serves ex-officio as its secretary; this transcript of the 
statutes does not paraphrase his most important relation to the 
Board of Education and to the public school system of the state, 
however. History furnishes a key to the situation as it is. 
Rhode Island has never ceased to regard the Commissioner of 
Public Schools as the successor of Henry Barnard; the Com- 
nissioner is still the state's educational leader and expert. 
Forty-eight years ago the General Assembly created the State 
Board of Education mainly to strengthen the position of the 
Commissioner. In the years which have followed the Board 
has been entrusted with vast powers in an extensive jurisdiction, 
but the traditional relation of the Board and the Commissioner 
has never been altered. The Commissioner of Public Schools 
is the expert adviser of the State Board of Education. The 
Board looks to him for leadership; he looks to the Board for 
support. No Commissioner whose counsel was persistently 
disregarded would remain in office; no Board would re-elect a 
Commissioner whose leadership it could not follow. Legal 
language fails to describe adequately the delicacy of this relation 
of the Board and the Commissioner. No General Assembly 
has ever attempted to phrase it and write it into the statutes. 
Yet the student of administration in Rhode Island who fails to 
discover this relation has missed a function of the Commissioner 
of Public Schools which is of almost transcendental importance. 
As a consequence of this relation the Commissioner of Public 
Schools formulates and the Board of Education voices a large 
part of the educational policy of the state. It raises the Com- 



SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION. 447 

missioner of Public Schools to an official dignity impossible were 
he merely a secretary and a ministerial functionary. 

A STATE SCHOOL SYSTEM. 

Until 1882 it might be said, accurately, that the public schools 
of Rhode Island were town schools. In spite of the facts (1) that 
towns and cities derived their power to levy taxes for school 
support from the general laws of the state, (2) that school com- 
mittees were elected under general laws, derived their powers 
from the statutes and were independent of control by town 
governments, (3) that schools were aided by state appropria- 
tions distributed pro rata, as well as by town taxation, (4) that 
certain revenues of the towns, derived from poll taxes, dog 
taxes and fines, could, under the Constitution and the laws, be 
applied to no other purpose than school support, (5) that the 
town school administrative organization was prescribed by 
statute and did not vary radically from town to town, (6) that 
the town schools were fundamentally uniform in type, though 
varying somewhat in detail and quality, (7) that town schools 
were subject to state supervision and inspection, (8) that the 
state had provided a normal school for the training of teachers, 
(9) that courses of study were subject to approval by the Com- 
missioner of Public Schools, and (10) that the Commissioner of 
Public Schools was by statute a judicial officer for the adjust- 
ment of disputes arising under the school law — the mainte- 
nance of schools and the appropriation of money for school 
support were permissive rather than mandatory. The Supreme 
Court, in 1881, declared: "The statutes of the state relating 
to free public schools do not make it the imperative duty of the 
several towns and cities to establish and maintain such schools, 
but create a general school system, under which the several 
towns and cities voluntarily establish and maintain public 
schools, receiving from the state certain allotments of money, 
to help defray the cost of instruction."* Conscious of its 

* Wixon vs. Newport, 13 R. I. 454. 



448 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

obligation to education, the state was encouraging towns to 
establish schools, by annual appropriations to aid the towns. 
In 1882 the word shall replaced the word may in the statutes, 
and the school law became mandatory. Thereafter the school 
system might be regarded as a state system, instead of a town 
system — in which the towns became agents for the state in 
establishing and maintaining the schools which the state had 
decreed should be open to all its citizens; in which town taxa- 
tion for school support was a device for adjusting a public 
burden amongst the people of the state; in which the towns 
became trustees of public school property. Later school 
statutes have strengthened the state view; among the most 
important of these have been the compulsory attendance laws 
and the attempts to perfect them, the free textbook law of 1893, 
the law of 1896 placing Providence schools under the general 
school law, the teachers' certificate law of 1898, the mandatory 
high school law of 1909, the teachers' minimum salary law of 
1909, and the act of 1913 providing special assistance for towns 
unable, at the prevailing rate of taxation throughout the state, 
to maintain schools of high grade. Twelve factors that 
establish the accuracy of the state view are: (1) Mandatory 
maintenance, (2) compulsory attendance, (3) special state 
assistance, (4) state licensing or certification of teachers, (5) 
state education for teachers, (6) minimum salary for teachers, 
(7) minimum school year, (8) mandatory provision for high 
school education, (9) prescription of part and direction of the 
remainder of the course of study, (10) free textbooks, (11) state 
supervision through the Commissioner of Public Schools and 
the State Board of Education, and (12) the judicial authority 
of the Commissioner of Public Schools. The state school sys- 
tem centres in the state department of education, that is, in the 
State Board of Education and the Commissioner of Public 
Schools, who is ex-officio secretary of the State Board of Educa- 
tion and its chief executive agent. 



SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION. 449 

The State Schools. — The Rhode Island State system of schools 
consists of: 

1. Free public primary and elementary schools, established 
and maintained by the cities and towns of the state under 
mandatory statutes, and partly supported by state appropria- 
tions. 

Attendance is compulsory until the course of eight grades is 
completed or until the pupil has completed 16 years of life, or 
having completed 14 years of life, is regularly employed and 
otherwise complies with the provisions of the age and employ- 
ment certificate law. Instead of attending a public school a 
child may be instructed privately or sent to a private or paro- 
chial school; in such cases the substituted education must be 
in English and must be approved by the town school committee. 
Tax exemption, the visitorial powers of school committees, the 
Commissioner of Public Schools and the State Board of Educa- 
tion, and the requirement of approval establish relations which 
bring private and parochial schools into the state system of 
schools. 

2. Free public high schools, established and maintained by 
the towns and cities of the state under mandatory statutes and 
partly supported by state appropriations. 

Towns not maintaining high schools are required to make 
provision for high school education for town children at ap- 
proved public high schools in other towns or at approved acade- 
mies, and receive state aid on the same per pupil basis as towns 
which maintain high schools. Tax exemption, visitation and 
approval bring certain academies into the state system. 

3. The Rhode Island State College, established by the state 
and maintained, in part by state appropriation, and in part by 
appropriations and the income of funds provided by the govern- 
ment of the United States. Tuition at the college is free to 
residents of Rhode Island. 

4. Free public evening elementary and high schools, estab- 
lished and maintained by towns and cities and supported in 
part by state appropriations. 

5. The Rhode Island Normal School, maintained by the 
state, whose function is the education of teachers for the free 
public schools. Tuition is free to residents of the state. 

6. The graduate department of education in Brown Uni- 
versity, established by the State Board of Education and the 
corporation of the university, for the purpose of training high 
school teachers, principals and superintendents of schools. 

7. The Rhode Island Sehool of Design, an institution estab- 
lished by public-spirited citizens, controlled by a quasi-public 



450 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

corporation and supported partly by private aid and the income 
of trust funds, and in large part by state appropriations. The 
state pays for free state scholarships. 

8. Rhode Island College of Pharmacy and Allied Sciences. 
Free state scholarships. 

9. A group of special institutions — 

a. The State Home and School, for neglected and 
dependent children. 

b. The Rhode Island Institute for the Deaf. 

c. The Exeter School. 

d. The Sockanosset School for Boys — -correctional. 

e. The Oaklawn School for Girls — correctional. 

The Administrative Force. — The administrative force for the 
state-town system of free public schools consists of: 

1. The State Board of Education. 

2. The Commissioner of Public Schools. 

3. Town school committees, employing — ■ 

a. Superintendents of schools. 

b. Principals and teachers. 

c. Truant officers. 

d. Census enumerators. 

e. Medical inspectors. 

This administrative force is essentially independent of the 
system of city and town government. 

Educational Institutions. — The state's educational institutions 
are administered by — 

1. The Board of Trustees of the Rhode Island Normal 
School, consisting of the State Board of Education and the 
Commissioner of Public Schools. 

2. The Board of Managers of the Rhode Island State Col- 
lege, including the Commissioner of Public Schools. 

3. The Board of Trustees of the Rhode Island School of 
Design, which includes two members of the State Board of 
Education and the Commissioner of Public Schools. 

4. The Board of Trustees of the Rhode Island Institute for 
the Deaf, which reports to the State Board of Education. 

5. The Penal and Charitable Commission, which controls 
the Rhode Island State Home and School, the Sockanosset and 
Oaklawn Schools, and the Exeter School, and reports to the 
State Board of Education. 



SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION. 451 

PROBLEMS OF SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION. 

In the foregoing historical treatment of school administration 
in Rhode Island, emphasis has rested principally upon the 
creation of an organism, consisting of officers, committees and 
boards, to administer a system of schools, and upon the powers, 
functions and duties of the organism as a whole and of its parts. 
The work has, in the main, been descriptive and analytic. 
Where synthesis has followed analysis it has proceeded little 
further than enumeration and classification. Relations and 
correlations remain to be established, particularly between the 
"duty to do" and the "thing to be done." In the outline of 
school administration in Rhode Island, which follows, the reader 
who has studied carefully what has gone before will find himself 
in familiar surroundings dealing with facts which are, for the 
most part, not new. Still, he is not asked merely to retrace his 
steps; as a review and summary the outline presents a new 
perspective. 

School administration is an art or an applied science which 
rests upon the school law. Conversely, the school law is the 
framework of the state's educational system and contains the 
fundamental principles of school administration. An outline 
of the school law, arranged topically, may serve, therefore, as 
an outline for school administration, suggesting the problems 
of school administration and setting forth the law's solution of 
them as it provides the machinery for action and names the 
person or body which is charged with the "duty to do" the 
"thing to be done." Such an outline of the law, and therefore 
of school administration, follows : 

A. School Property— The Physical Equipment. 
I. Land and Buildings. 

1. Provision of school accommodations is an obligation 
of the town. If the town fails to provide quar- 
ters, the school committee may provide tem- 
porary quarters at the expense of the town. 



452 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

2. Location of school sites is the exclusive function of the 

school committee — subject to the usual appeal. 

3. Condemnation proceedings are inaugurated and con- 

ducted by the school committee. 

4. Plans for school buildings, with standards for heating, 

lighting, ventilating, sanitary arrangements and 
seating may be approved by the State Board of 
Education and communicated to town officers con- 
ducting school building operations. 

5. Construction legally should be under supervision of school 

committee. The practice varies from town to 
town, however. The school committee, joint 
committees of the town council and special com- 
mittees appointed in town meeting act. In Prov- 
idence and Cranston the city councils control con- 
struction and reparation. 

6. Closing a school does not operate as an abandonment 

of property for school use. 

II. Furniture and Equipment. 

1. Equipment of a new school building is a function of the 

school committee, except in Providence and 
Cranston. 

2. Replacing furniture and equipment is a function of the 

school committee. 

III. Books and Apparatus. 

1. Choice of textbooks rests with the school committee. The 

state department's authority to encourage uni- 
formity of textbooks is only hortative. Change 
of textbooks is permitted only once in three years, 
without the approval of the State Board of 
Education first being obtained. 

2. Books and supplies must be provided by the school com- 

mittee at the expense of the town. 

B. School Finance. 
I. Sources of School Revenue. 

1. General taxation and appropriations. Every town must 

appropriate at least as much money for support 
of schools annually as it receives from the state. 
Penalty, forfeiture of state school money, without 
release from responsibility. 

2. State support of public schools. 

a. Teachers' money. $100 per school up to 15 schools 
per town; participation in the apportionment of 
the balance of $120,000, on the basis of school 
population. 



SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION. 453 

b. Aid for high schools. $25 per pupil up to 25 pupils; 
$15 per pupil from 26 to 50 pupils — paid to 
towns maintaining high schools or sending 
children to academies or high schools in other 
towns. Provision of high school education man- 
datory. 

c. Aid for evening schools. The State Board of Educa- 

tion apportions an annual appropriation. 

d. Teachers' minimum salaries. The state pays one- 

half the amount necessary to raise all teachers' 
salaries to the minimum of $400. 

e. Supervision. The state pays $750 annually toward 

the salary of a superintendent of schools receiv- 
ing at least $1500. The State Board of Educa- 
tion may provide supervision for certain towns, 
at an expense not to exceed $750 per town. 

f. Apparatus. Up to $10 per school and $200 per town, 

the Commissioner of Public Schools may pay half 
the expense of providing apparatus, dictionaries, 
reference books, etc., for public schools. 

g. Manual training and household arts. The State 

Board of Education may pay half the cost of 

providing apparatus, 
h. Industrial education and vocational courses. The 

State Board of Education may pay half the cost 

of instruction, 
i. Medical inspection. Up to $250 a town may receive 

from the state half the cost of medical inspection 

for public or private schools, 
j. Graded schools. The state pays $100 for each de- 
partment of a graded school produced by the 

consolidation of three or more ungraded schools; 

also $100 for each ungraded school consolidated 

with a graded school, 
k. Special aid. To assist towns unable at the average 

rate of taxation throughout the state to maintain 

schools of high standard, the state appropriates 

$5000 annually. 

Poll taxes and clog license money must be transferred to 
the town school account annually on the first 
Monday in May. 

Tuition paid by out-of-town pupils must be transferred 
to the town school account. 

Proceeds of the sale of school property, other than land 
and buildings, must be transferred to the town 
school account. 



454 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

6. Fines under the truancy law belong to the school account. 

7. Gifts and endowments for school support, if accepted, 

must be used and administered according to the 
trust. 

8. Federal aid for vocational education, apportioned by State 

Board for Vocational Education. 

II. Custody of school money. 

1 . State school money is paid to the town treasurer. 

2. School appropriations remain in the custody of the town 

treasurer. 

3. Town treasurers are required to keep a separate account 

of school money. 

III. Payments. 

1. Orders on the school funds may be drawn only by the 

school committee. 

2. Disbursement of school money is limited to school pur- 

poses. 

3. Limitation of the discretion of the school committee in 

expending school money is not favored. It has 
been held that appropriations for special school 
purposes simply transfer money to the general 
school account, for expenditure by the committee 
at discretion. Separate appropriations for con- 
struction of new schoolhouses are customary, how- 
ever, because the school building and the land 
upon which it stands are town property, originally 
and ultimately. 

4. Interference with the school committee's right to appor- 

tion school funds, such as, for instance, an ordi- 
nance establishing salaries, is illegal, and so a 
designation of special purposes does not bind the 
school committee. 

IV. Town liability for school expenses. 

1. The town's duty to provide sufficient school accommo- 
dations and schools is mandatory. Hence 

•a. The school committee may charge the town's credit 
for the support of schools when no money for school 
purposes has been provided or is available. 

b. Insufficient appropriations do not limit the school 
committee's duty and right to provide and con- 
duct schools. 



SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION. 455 

c. Deficits, while they should be avoided if possible, 
are not unpardonable when the town's appropria- 
tions for school support are insufficient. 

V. Financial Reports. 

1. Town treasurers are required to report — 

a. To the school committee on July 1 the amount of 

school money available for the current school year 
and the sources from which it has been derived. 

b. To the Commissioner of Public Schools, the amount 

of town school appropriations, the payments made 
from the town treasury for school purposes, and 
the accounts to which they have been charged. 

2. School committees are required to report — 

a. To the town in town meeting. 

b. To the Commissioner of Public Schools. 

3. The double system of reports enables the Commissioner of 

Public Schools to check up accounts for errors. 

C. School Teachers. 
I. Eligibility and certification, or licensing. 

1 . Certification or licensing of teachers and superintend- 

ents of schools is exclusively a function of the State 
Board of Education. 

a. Professional certificates are issued — 

1. To graduates of colleges who have com- 

pleted six courses in education. 

2. To graduates of approved normal schools. 

b. Non-professional certificates and temporary or 

special certificates are issued upon successful ex- 
amination. 

2. Revocation of certificates for cause is a function of the 

State Board of Education. 

3. Employment of a teacher without a certificate is reason 

for forfeiture of so much of the town's share 
of school money as equals the wages paid by the 
town to the teacher thus illegally engaged. 

II. Selection, appointment and dismissal of teachers are ex- 
clusively functions of the school committee. 
1. Appointments of teachers and superintendents are made 
directly or confirmed by school committees. The 
power to appoint, subject to confirmation, is 
sometimes delegated to a sub-committee or to the 
superintendent. 



456 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

2. No person is eligible to appointment as teacher or super- 

intendent unless he holds a certificate. 

3. Tenure of employment is presumably for the whole or 

the balance of a school year of at least 36 weeks. 
In some towns employment, after a probationary 
period, is practically during good behavior; the 
term "permanent " is used. A contract giving the 
committee right to terminate it on notice is con- 
trary to public policy. 

4. Dismissal of the teacher is a function exclusively of the 

school committee; it must be for cause, and the 
teacher has a right to a hearing. 

5. Termination of the teacher's employment other than by 

expiration of term or dismissal for cause, may be 
only for such reasons as would excuse the school 
committee from fulfillment of a contract. 

6. A member of a school committee is not eligible for election 

as teacher or superintendent. 

III. The teacher's salary must be at least $400 annually for a 
school year. 

IV. Duties of the teacher. 

1. To observe and enforce rules and regulations. 

2. To teach the course of study. 

3. To keep a school register and report to the Commissioner 

of Public Schools, if requested. 

4. To keep records of vaccination, and exclude from school 

children who are not vaccinated or excused from 
vaccination. 

5. To implant and cultivate in the minds of the pupils sound 

principles of morality. 

6. To prepare programmes for observance of school holidays. 

7. If in charge of a building, to conduct fire drills. 

8. To conduct physical education twenty minutes each day. 

V. Pensions for teachers are provided by the state, the law 

being administered by the State Board of Educa- 
tion. 

VI. Schoolmasters are exempt from jury duty. 
D. School Administration and Supervision. 

I. Rules and regulations for the government of schools may 
be adopted and enforced by school committees, sub- 
ject to approval by the Commissioner of Public 
Schools. 



SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION. 457 

II. Courses of Study. 

1. For common schools may be adopted by the school 

committee, with the direction and advice of the 
Commissioner of Public Schools. 

2. For high schools, are adopted by the school com- 

mittee, subject to approval by the State Board of 
Education. 

3. Must include instruction in alcoholic physiology. 

4. . Must include physical training. 

III. A minimum school year of 36 weeks is prescribed by law. 

For high schools the minimum school year ap- 
proved by the State Board of Education is 38 
weeks. 

1. January 1, February 22, May 30, July 4, October 12 

and December 25 are school holidays. Falling 
on Sunday, the day following is the holiday. 

2. February 12, May 4 and Arbor Day are days of 

special school observance. 

IV. A superintendent of schools must be employed by the 

town school committee. By assuming payment 
of part of the superintendent's salary, the state 
encourages the employment of full-time superin- 
tendents. 

1. The statutory duties prescribed for the superin- 
tendent are : 

a. To undertake the duties prescribed for him by 
the school committee. 

b. To conduct sight and hearing tests annually. 

c. To be the chief administrative agent of the 

school committee. 

d. To assist the committee in keeping records and 

making reports. 

e. To recommend teachers for appointment. 

f. To recommend textbooks, supplies, and equip- 

ment. 

g. To recommend repairs and improvements. 

h. To report to the committee at least annually. 

V. Health of school children. 

1. Medical inspection for public and private schools 

may be provided by the school committee. 

2. Superintendents are required to conduct sight and 

hearing tests annually. 



458 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

3. School committees may provide dental clinics. 

4. The law prescribes physical education. 

E. Pupils. 

I. Right to attend school. 

1. No person may be excluded from any public school 

because of race or color, or for being more than 
15 years of age, or for any reason except by gen- 
eral rule applicable to similar cases. 

2. The right to attend school includes the right to high 

school education at the expense of the town if no 
high school is provided by the town. 

3. A pupil may be refused admission or excluded from 

school if he is not vaccinated, or excused from 
vaccination by reason of danger to his health. 

4. Failure of success in maintaining standards — back- 

wardness — is not a valid reason for exclusion. 

5. Incorrigibly bad conduct permits the school com- 

mittee to suspend a pupil, but not to expel him. 

II. Compulsory Attendance. 

1. Children 7 to 16 years, inclusive, must attend day 

school. 

2. Responsibility of the child. The child must attend 

day school regularly until he is at least 16 years 
of age, or until he has completed the eight ele- 
mentary grades, or until being over 14 years old, 
he is legally employed or engaged in business; 
and thereafter in both instances as long as he is 
sent to school by his parents. 

3. Responsibility of the parent. The parent must send 

his child to school until the child is 16 years old, 
or has sooner completed the eight elementary 
grades, or is over 14 and legally employed or 
engaged in business; but is excused if the child's 
mental condition forbids it, or the child has not 
suitable clothing, or if the child is excluded from 
school by operation of a general rule. 

4. Responsibility of employer. No child under 14 may 

be employed, and no child over 14 and under 16 
without an age and employment certificate. 

5. Age and employment certificates, permitting employ- 

ment, are issued by school committees to children 
who meet all the following requirements: 



SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION. 459 

a. Age, 14 years. Age must be proved by birth or 
baptismal certificate or by passport, or by other 
evidence satisfactory to the Secretary of the State 
Board of Education. 

b. Ability to read at sight and write legibly simple 
sentences in the English language. 

c. Satisfactory physical examination by a licensed 

physician, who must certify that the child is in 
sufficiently sound health to engage in the employ- 
ments permitted for children. The state pays for 
the examination; the Commissioner of Public 
Schools appoints two examining physicians for 
Providence. 

6. Exceptions. In lieu of attendance at public school, 

the child may attend an approved private or 
parochial school, or may be instructed privately 
if the instruction is approved by the school com- 
mittee. 

7. The machinery for enforcing the law: 

a. The school committee must have an annual census 

of children of school age taken. Returns of the 
census must be made to the Commissioner of 
Public Schools. 

b. Teachers are required to keep attendance records, 
and report truancy. 

c. The school committee must appoint truant officers, 

whose duties include attention to truants and to 
those children who do not attend or are not sent 
to school. 

d. Factory inspectors, as well as truant officers, are 
required to enforce the age and employment cer- 
tificate law. 

e. Age and employment certificates are valid only 

during employment. 

III. Rights and Duties of the Child in School. 

1. The child is entitled to attendance in his own town 

free of charges for tuition, and to free textbooks 
and supplies of all kinds necessary for his work. 

2. The child is bound to attend school regularly, and to 

conform to rules and regulations, and reasonable 
standards of deportment. 

3. Services may not be required of the child. 

4. Hazing is a criminal offence. 



460 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

F. Law Enforcement. 

I. Appeals to the Commissioner of Public Schools. 

1. Any person aggrieved by any action or doing of a 

school committee may appeal to the Commissioner 
of Public Schools. The Commissioner must hear 
the parties and render a decision. 

2. The Commissioner's jurisdiction is not confined to 

appeals arising from illegal action of school com- 
mittees; he may review any action of a school 
committee, even action within the discretion of 
the committee. 

3. The Commissioner's decision is final when approved 

by a justice of the Supreme Court. 

4. The Commissioner has no effective power to enforce 

his decision; in civil court proceedings based upon 
failure to comply with his decision, the matter 
decided is res adjudicata. Mandamus is the 
remedy suggested. 

II. The right to appeal to the Commissioner does not de- 

prive the party who might appeal of his right to 
seek relief in the law courts. 

III. Mandatory statutes. 

1. Obedience by municipalities and public officers is 

presumed. 

2. Mandamus affords an extraordinary remedy for 

violation. 

3. The school committee, as a body distinct and sepa- 

rate from the municipal organization, may charge 
the town's credit when the town has failed to 
provide "ways and means" to meet the require- 
ments of law. 

IV. Attractive legislation. 

1. The state encourages compliance by state aid. 

2. Hortatory legislation tends to become mandatory. 

V. Penalties. In certain instances the law provides penal- 

ties by forfeiture or fine. 

VI. In the last analysis enlightened public opinion is the 

most effective instrument for law enforcement. 



CHAPTER X. 



THE SCHOOL TEACHER. 



There is no element in a school more essential than the 
teacher. A school may be conducted without books, black- 
boards, maps, charts or other school apparatus; with nothing 
attractive or instructive to cover the bare walls of a poorly 
constructed, wholly unsuitable building. The unfinished walls 
themselves may be made eloquent auxiliaries of the teacher, as 
they were in the primitive schoolroom of Pestalozzi. The 
teacher makes the school; the memory of the good teacher 
lingers after classmates, school books and schoolroom are for- 
gotten; when the intimate image of a particular old school- 
house has faded into a more general recollection of a "little red 
schoolhouse" somewhere. 

Of early Rhode Island public school teachers town records 
preserve many names. The early schoolmaster sometimes had a 
vocation that he pursued in connection with, if not in correlation 
with, his avocation of education. In churchly towns he might 
be rector of the village church; Robert Lenthal, the first Rhode 
Island schoolmaster, was called to Newport both to teach in the 
town school and to preach in the town church. William Turpin, 
the first Providence schoolmaster, kept an inn. 

The salary of the early Rhode Island schoolmaster was a 
meagre compensation, even for the service of education. Land 
grants for school purposes were intended to furnish the master 
with a "living," which he was compelled to extract from the soil 
largely through his own labor. Sometimes the "living" was 
supplemented by a small annual salary from the town treasury, 
but quite as often the town became merely the guarantor of a 



462 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

minimum salary, agreeing to mate up the balance of a salary 
not received in tuitions paid by pupils. There is ample reason 
for belief, from careful reading of records, that more than one 
early town schoolhouse was a dwelling as well as a schoolhouse, 
occupied by the schoolmaster rent free as part of his compensa- 
tion. This certainly was true of the Potter school at Newport. 
Payment of salaries was not invariably made in money; the 
early records sometimes specify other " legal tender." 

Professional teachers made their appearance in the eighteenth 
century. The professional teacher might work at a trade or 
other occupation incidentally, but he was not, as was the seven- 
teenth century schoolmaster, following another occupation as 
his principal business in life and teaching incidentally. From 
being an avocation, teaching with the professional teacher had 
become a vocation. The Jacksons and Taylors of Providence 
were professional school teachers, and the records of other towns 
preserve other names of professional schoolmasters. In the list of 
professional teachers of the eighteenth century such names as 
Casey, Crocker, Donally, Knox and Slattery indicate the popu- 
larity of Irish schoolmasters, many of whom were esteemed as 
excellent teachers, who endeared themselves to their pupils. A 
mysterious schoolmaster, known in reminiscence as Mr. A. B., 
taught school excellently in several towns, furnished books for 
his pupils, received pupils without tuition, and vanished without 
disclosing his identity. The field of early school history is quite 
as romantic as authentic. Women teachers began to replace 
men toward the middle of the nineteenth century. 

QUALIFICATIONS OF THE TEACHER. 

The earliest standard of qualifications for school teachers 
appeared in the school law of 1800, section 9 of which provided 
that "no person shall establish or direct, as master or preceptor, 
any school or academy of instruction in reading, writing, gram- 
mar or mathematics unless he shall be a native or naturalized 



THE SCHOOL TEACHER. 463 

citizen of the United States, and be approved by a certificate in 
writing from the town council of the town in which he shall 
teach; and any preceptor or schoolmaster who shall establish or 
direct any school or academy as aforesaid, not being a citizen and 
not having a certificate as aforesaid, shall forfeit and pay as a 
fine the sum of $50, to be recovered by indictment for the use of 
the state, or by action of debt, one half for the use of the person 
who shall prosecute the same and the other half to the use of the 
state." 

The law of 1800 was repealed before any test could be made 
of its application to teachers even in public schools. It ven- 
tured somewhat beyond any modern Rhode Island law govern- 
ing certification of teachers, in so far as it required that all 
teachers in all schools, whether public or private, hold certificates 
issued by public authority. The compulsory attendance law, 
through which the state and towns supervise and regulate private 
instruction so far as it purports to impart the education common 
to all prescribed by law, requires that private instruction, 
attendance at which is accepted in lieu of attendance at public 
day schools, shall first be approved as substantially equivalent, 
in content and in method and in effectiveness, to public school 
instruction, but gives to public school official administrative 
agencies no direct control over teachers in other than public 
schools. The town school committee may refuse to approve a 
private school for purposes of the compulsory attendance law, 
and if the hours of instruction in the private school conflict with 
those of attendance at public day school, effectually close the 
private school for want of pupils . But if the hours of instruction 
and attendance do not conflict, then the private school may go 
on unrestricted save by the law of diminishing probability. 

The act of 1800 aimed at certification of every teacher of the 
common branches, whether employed in public or private 
schools. Perhaps it may be interpreted as reflecting the state's 
general attitude toward public education. It probably was 



464 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

not anticipated that the free public schools to be established 
under the act of 1800 would accommodate so large a proportion 
of the school population as do the modern free public schools. 
If a considerable proportion, perhaps the larger proportion of 
the public's children were to be educated in private schools, then 
it was important that private school teachers be examined and 
licensed to teach if the state assumed no greater responsibility 
for education of the public's children than the maintenance of 
standards for instruction. The large number of private schools 
conducted in Providence between 1800 and 1828, at the same 
time that the town was maintaining four free public schools, 
indicates the relative importance of the private school and 
private instruction in the period. With the rapid extension of 
the public school after the state, in 1828, undertook in earnest 
a share in the burden of supporting public education, the rela- 
tive importance of private schools diminished rapidly. Select 
private schools now are educating not quite one per cent, of 
children of school age ; parochial school attendance is approxi- 
mately one-sixth of school population. 

Petitions for improvement of public schools in Providence 
and reports upon the condition of these schools in the first 
quarter of the nineteenth century almost invariably condemned 
the inefficiency of teaching, assigning two reasons, one of which, 
that salaries paid were too low to attract competent instructors, 
indicted both the teachers and the public administrative agencies 
in control of the schools, and the other, that classes were so 
large as to make effective instruction impossible, absolved the 
teachers. 

The school law of 1828 specified no particular qualifications 
for teachers. School committees were empowered to "appoint 
all the schoolmasters or school mistresses to be employed in 
teaching the schools, taking care that such masters and mis- 
tresses are qualified for the task." The law of 1839 marked a 
forward step, in its provision that "the school committee shall 



THE SCHOOL TEACHER. 465 

appoint all instructors and instructresses, taking care that they 
be of good moral character, temperate and otherwise well 
qualified for the office." School committees were required in 
1842 to "ascertain by their personal examination, or that of a 
committee to be appointed by them, the qualifications and 
capacity for the government of schools of all instructors that 
may be employed in their respective towns." No person could 
be employed thereafter in any public school " unless before he 
opens such school his qualifications and capacity shall be ascer- 
tained . . . and he shall obtain from the committee of 
examination a certificate that he is qualified to teach such 
school." Providence, North Providence, and Smithfield were 
exempted from the provisions of this act. 

The Barnard law of 1845 required every teacher employed in 
schools supported in whole or in part by public money to hold 

(1) a certificate signed by the chairman of the town school 
committee, or a sub-committee empowered for the purpose, or 

(2) a certificate signed by a school inspector appointed for the 
county by the Commissioner of Public Schools, or (3) a cer- 
tificate signed by the Commissioner of Public Schools. Cer- 
tificates issued by or under authority of the school committee 
were valid for one year and only in the town; certificates signed 
by county inspectors were valid for two years, and in any town 
in the county; certificates signed by the Commissioner of Public 
Schools were valid for three years and in any public school in 
the state. School officers, school committees, county inspectors 
and the Commissioner of Public Schools were forbidden to issue 
certificates of qualification to teachers " unless the person named 
in the same shall produce evidence of good moral character and 
be found on examination, or by experience, qualified to teach 
the English language, arithmetic, penmanship and the rudi- 
ments of geography and history, and to govern a school." 

The " remarks" published with the school law added: "No 
person should be considered qualified to teach any school, who 



466 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

cannot speak and write the English language, if not elegantly, 
at least correctly. He should be a good reader, be able to make 
himself understood and feel all that the author intended. He 
should be able to give the analysis as well as explain the mean- 
ing of the words of the sentence, and to explain all dates and 
names and allusions. He should be a good speller. He should 
understand practically the first principles of English grammar 
. . . He should also be able to write a good hand, to make a 
pen and to teach others how to do the same. He should show his 
knowledge of geography by applying his definitions of the ele- 
mentary principles to the geography of his own town, state and 
county, and by questions on the map and globe. He should 
be. able to answer promptly all questions relating to the leading 
events of the history of the United States and of his own state. 
In arithmetic he should be well versed in some treatise on mental 
arithmetic, and be able to work out before the committee 
. . . such questions as will test his ability to teach the text- 
books on arithmetic prescribed for the class of schools he will 
be engaged in." The "remarks" suggested teaching a practice 
class or lesson as a good test for ability to teach. 

In practice and experience, in spite of the longer term for 
state and county certificates, and their validity in a wider 
territory than a single town, and in union grammar as well as in 
primary schools, few teachers sought certification by other than 
town school committees. In 1857 the school committee became 
the exclusive agency for examining and certificating teachers, 
continuing so until the establishment of the Rhode Island 
Normal School. To insure recognition of the Normal School 
diploma, the trustees were given authority to certificate teachers. 

Until the revision of the statutes in 1872 there was no change 
in the letter of the law relating to certificates issued by school 
committees. Except for omission in 1873 of the requirement 
that the teacher should be able to "make a pen," there was no 
change in the instructions for school committees concerning the 



THE SCHOOL TEACHER. 467 

examination of teachers for certification until 1896, when the 
School Manual suggested that the "committee would also have 
the right under the law to grant a certificate for one term at 
least, without an examination, to a person having a diploma from 
an accredited normal school or college." The General Statutes 
of 1873 provided that "the school committee shall not sign any 
certificate unless the person named in the same produce evi- 
dence of good moral character, and be found on examination 
qualified to teach the various branches required to be taught in the 
school." The change consisted merely in the substitution of a 
general statement of content for the specific subjects named in 
earlier statutes. 

The school committee was given authority in 1877 to limit its 
certificates to a portion of a year, the law reading : " Such cer- 
tificate, unless annulled, if signed by the school committee, 
shall be valid in the town for one year, or for such portion 
thereof as shall be specified in said certificate." In practice 
committees had long ago established the custom of limiting 
certificates to particular districts or schools, and the right had 
been sustained by a decision of the Commissioner of Public 
Schools in 1852. The appeal on which the decision was ren- 
dered was carried to the Supreme Court on a question of pro- 
cedure. The Supreme Court in its decision laid down the 
rule prescribing mandamus as the proper process for enforcing 
the Commissioner's decision. Randall vs. Wetherell, 2 R. I. 120. 

The State Board of Education was made the exclusive 
agency for examining and certificating public school teachers in 
1898. The law provided that "no person shall be employed 
to teach, as principal or assistant, in any school supported 
wholly or in part by public money unless such person shall 
have a certificate of qualification issued by, or under the au- 
thority of the State Board of Education. The State Board of 
Education shall hold, or cause to be held, in such places in 
different parts of the state, and at such times as they may 



468 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

determine, examinations for the position of teacher in the public 
schools of this state; and said Board of Education is hereby 
authorized to issue certificates of qualifications, which shall be 
valid throughout the state for the grade and time specified 
therein." The Board was given also the power to annul cer- 
tificates for cause, a power formerly exercised by school com- 
mittees. The committee's power to annul certificates was not 
specifically repealed by the act of 1898. Subsequent legislation 
has aimed to make the certificate law more effective by pro- 
viding a penalty for the employment of a teacher without a 
certificate. The certificate law was extended in 1908 to cover 
persons employed as superintendents of public schools. 

The law of 1898, which substantially is the law at the present 
time, entrusts to the State Board of Education the authority 
to examine and certificate teachers, and to determine the 
qualifications that the teacher must have for certification. The 
law of 1898 permitted the State Board of Education to issue 
certificates of qualification without examination to persons who 
had taught in the public schools of Rhode Island for three or 
more years, upon filing a written application approved by the 
school committee of the town wherein the applicant had taught 
the greater part of the three years preceding the date of appli- 
cation. The General Laws in 1909 gave to the State Board of 
Education general authority to issue certificates without 
examination, in a section which provides: "Said State Board 
of Education may, in their discretion, issue certificates of quali- 
fication without examination, to persons who may present 
evidence of qualification and shall comply with the regulations 
of said Board." The State Board of Education has exer- 
cised the power to grant certificates without examination to 
further a general educational policy resting upon the prin- 
ciple that proof of preparation for teaching is much better 
evidence of ability to teach and to govern a school, than a 
successful examination. It is scarcely possible, and it is en- 



THE SCHOOL TEACHER. 469 

tirely impracticable to attempt, to set examinations so com- 
prehensive and so thorough as to test accurately the ability of 
the candidate, and to eliminate entirely the element of chance. 
The grading of certificates has emphasized the importance of 
training, and school committees have co- operated with the State 
Board of Education in promoting its policy by giving preference 
in selecting teachers to those whose certificates rested upon 
preparation. Thus what was first an incidental power — the 
right to issue certificates without examination — has in practice 
become a more important power than the right to examine and 
certificate. In recent years, excluding renewals of certificates 
on proof of satisfactory experience and service, of new cer- 
tificates the number granted on examination has varied between 
10 and 15 per cent., over 85 per cent, of new certificates being 
granted on proof of suitable training and preparation for 
teaching. 

The records of the State Board of Education, covering 20 
years as an exclusive agency for the examination and certifica- 
tion of teachers, provide an unusual accumulation of information 
concerning the personnel of the public school teaching corps. 
These records show that more than four-fifths of Rhode Island 
teachers have had professional training for teaching, a propor- 
tion probably exceeded nowhere in the United States. Com- 
parisons with other state systems, however, may not be made 
generally, because so few states maintain exclusive certificating 
agencies or so complete records. The Board's records and 
records kept by the Rhode Island Normal School also show that 
a much larger proportion of those prepared for teaching make 
it a life work than had been believed. The number of cer- 
tificates renewed from time to time indicates that teachers 
continue in service, and proves the stability of the teaching 
personnel in Rhode Island. The average professional life of the 
Rhode Island public school teacher is many times greater than 
the common estimate. All this counts for better service and 



470 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

better schools. In succeeding paragraphs it will be shown that 
Rhode Island has aimed at improving the qualifications of 
teachers by preparing well-qualified teachers rather than solely 
by excluding those found upon examination not to be well 
qualified. 

PREPARATION FOR TEACHING. 

It may be possible to establish and maintain qualifications for 
public service by law and to select a competent personnel by 
examination or otherwise, provided agencies, public or private, 
are educating persons sufficiently, and definitely enough in par- 
ticular instances, for the service. Thus the United States 
Government has been able to recruit the personnel of the 
general civil service without undertaking to provide special 
education or special educational institutions for the training of 
those whose employment has been deemed necessary. For two 
departments of public service, the army and the navy, the 
Government established schools at an early period, and it has 
from time to time supplemented the professional schools at 
West Point and Annapolis by other agencies. When the state 
of Rhode Island in 1845 undertook definitely to improve public 
schools, and particularly instruction in public schools, it was 
realized that no public or private agency in the state was edu- 
cating and training teachers for public schools, and a normal 
school for teacher training was authorized. After failure of the 
department of education established at Brown University in 
1850, and a private normal school opened in Providence in 1852, 
the state in 1854 provided an appropriation for a public normal 
school. The course of study at Rhode Island Normal School 
may serve as an approximately fair measure of standard quali- 
fications for teaching in Rhode Island public schools. 

The course of study for the early public normal school in- 
cluded geography, physical and political, with the use of the 
globe and outline maps, and map drawing; orthography, 



THE SCHOOL TEACHER. 471 

phonetic and etymological analysis; English grammar, with 
analysis of sentences; rhetorical reading, including analysis of 
language, history of the English language and literature, and 
the critical study of select works; original composition and 
other rhetorical exercises; logic; writing, including spelling, 
paragraphing, capitalizing, and punctuation; history of the 
United States; Constitution of the United States; Constitu- 
tion of Rhode Island; school laws of Rhode Island; general 
history and chronology; natural history, botany, zoology, chem- 
istry and astronomy; natural, mental and moral philosophy; 
arithmetic, algebra, geometry, trigonometry; vocal music; the 
art of teaching, including the history and progress of educa- 
tion; the philosophy of teaching and discipline, as drawn from 
the nature of the juvenile mind, and the application of these 
principles under the ordinary conditions of the common schools. 

Applicants for admission must pass a satisfactory written and 
oral examination in reading, writing, spelling, arithmetic, 
geography and English grammar. Studies were arranged, so 
far as possible, to permit (1) a thorough review of elementary 
studies, and (2) pursuit of branches which might be " considered 
as an expansion of the elementary studies, or collateral to them," 
with (3) emphasis upon "the art of teaching and its modes." 
Every subject of study was considered "with reference to the 
best methods of teaching it." 

It is interesting to note that the distinctly professional sub- 
jects included in the present day trivium — school methods, school 
management and school law — required of all candidates for pro- 
fessional certification, constituted the trivium of professional 
courses in the early normal school curriculum, and in the first 
curriculum of the present Rhode Island Normal School. 

The first Rhode Island public normal school was removed to 
Bristol in 1857, and closed its doors in 1867. The present 
Rhode Island Normal School was established in 1871. The 
course of study, covering two years, was such that it was 



472 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

expected that graduates of high schools might complete it in 
one year. That is to say, the professional course was actually 
one year. The studies to be pursued were: Arithmetic, 
algebra, geometry, and bookkeeping, the work in mathematics 
covering three of four terms; grammar, analysis of the English 
language, rhetoric and English literature, three terms; chem- 
istry, physiology and hygiene, botany, zoology, astronomy, 
mineralogy, geology, and natural philosophy (physics), three 
terms; geography and history, two terms each. The fourth 
term was devoted to astronomy; mental and moral science, in- 
cluding the principles and art of reasoning; theory and art of 
teaching, including (1) principles and methods of instruction, 
(2) school organization and government, (3) school laws of 
Rhode Island; and the Constitutions of Rhode Island and the 
United States. Drawing was taught with special reference to its 
use in common schools. Instruction was given in the principles 
and practice of vocal music, and the best methods of teaching the 
same. General exercises were given daily in composition, vocal 
culture, object lessons and in gymnastics. Latin, Greek, 
French, German and other "advanced studies," were offered, 
but must not be pursued "to the neglect of the English course." 
Applicants for admission were examined in reading, spelling, 
penmanship, arithmetic to involution, geography, grammar, and 
(after 1872) in United States history. Graduates of high 
schools were admitted without examination. 

In the catalogue for 1877 the list of subjects in the course of 
study was supplemented by a paragraph for each course out- 
lining the content and describing methods of study and presen- 
tation. The number of lessons in each study was as follows : 

Junior A class — Geometry, 100; elementary chemistry and 
physics, 100; physiology, 100; language (capitals, punctuation, 
letter writing, and composition), 100. Junior B class — Arith- 
metic (through decimals), 100; drawing, 50; lessons on plants, 
50; lessons on animals, 20; geography, 100; reading (articula- 



THE SCHOOL TEACHER. 473 

tion, pitch, force, modes of teaching), 100; grammar (analysis 
and parsing), 80. Middle class — Advanced arithmetic, 100; 
algebra, 100; rhetoric, 100; English literature, 100; physical 
geography, 30; history (general and United States), 70. Senior 
class — Astronomy, 100; physics, 100; mineralogy or geology, 
20; science and art of teaching (1, psychology; 2, moral science; 
3, school instruction; 4, school order and school government), 
150. Advanced course — Latin, Greek, French, German, mathe- 
matics and natural science. 

The description of the course in the science and art of teach- 
ing, important in this study because of its bearing upon the 
content of educational science required in the period, follows : 

1. Psychology. Teaching the subject inductively, the general 
outline being developed from the facts of the pupil's conscious- 
ness. Reading and analysis of subjects included under psy- 
chology, as presented in reference and textbooks. Practice in 
teaching psychology, by members of the class. Class discussions 
of questions suggested by reading and recitations. . . . 

2. Moral science. Objects: To gain a knowledge of the 
fundamental principles of morality as determined by the mental 
and moral nature of man, and to form plans for giving moral 
instruction, by object lessons to young pupils and precepts to 
older pupils. . . . 

3. School instruction. Modes of teaching and study. 
Course of study arranged for the primary school, for the in- 
termediate or secondary school, and for the grammar school. 
Arranging plans for teaching. Teaching exercises. Discussion 
of the art of teaching, occasioned by the exercises presented. 

4. School order and school government. Organization of 
school. Tardiness and absence. School records and returns. 
Necessity of school government. Modes of securing the ends 
of school government. Causes of failure in school. Govern- 
ment, external to the teacher; on the part of the teacher. 
Conditions of success. The marking system. The self- 
reportive system. Corporal punishment. Other and better 
modes as determined by the nature of the child. Communica- 
tion during study hours. Unconscious influence of teacher. 
The teacher's relation to society. Esthetics in the schoolroom. 
Lessons in manners and morals. 



474 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

The course in the science and art of teaching aimed at 
thoroughness and completeness. To the criticism that it 
occupied, proportionately, too small a part of the complete 
course of study, the answer may be given that the function of the 
normal school of the period was not exclusively professional. 
The training of teachers for professional service, while public 
high schools were supported in a comparatively few towns, 
must include instruction in the content of academic studies, as 
well as professional education. 

The "objects of the school" were stated in 1878, as follows: 

1. To aid the pupils, and to prepare them to aid others in 
securing firm physical health. 

2. The selection and the topical arrangement in natural and 
logical order of the objects and subjects which the pupils are to 
teach in the public schools of the state. This includes modes 
of using textbooks in studying and in teaching, according to the 
topical mode. 

3. To gain a knowledge of the subject matter of the several 
branches included in the "course of study." 

4. To gain a knowledge of the principles of teaching as 
determined by the faculties of the human mind and the laws of 
their development. 

5. To gain a knowledge of the best methods of teaching and 
to acquire skill in the use of methods, by teaching. 

6. To gain a knowledge of the principles and methods of 
school organization and government. Since self-control is the 
first condition of the power to govern others, the pupils of the 
normal school are trained to habits of self-control. 

7. To lead those who are to teach to that appreciation of the 
value of good teaching which is essential to the genuine en- 
thusiasm of a teacher. 

8. The formation of the character of those who are to teach. 
This object in its moral significance is the most important object 
of this school. 

Variations in the number of periods allotted to subjects and 
in the descriptive paragraphs were made from time to time, but 
the course in the science and art of teaching remained unchanged 
until 1881. In that year a fifth paragraph was added, an- 



THE SCHOOL TEACHER. 475 

nouncing an opportunity for observation and practice teaching, 

as follows: 

"Observation and practice in teaching. The schools of 
Providence furnish an excellent opportunity for members of the 
senior class to acquaint themselves with the government and 
instruction of excellent schools of every grade. The arrange- 
ment made by the superintendent of schools and teachers of the 
city, by which members of the senior class have real practice in 
teaching, is a great service to them. The co-operation of 
teachers in this city in aiding the pupils to make the best use of 
their opportunities for observation and practice is worthy of 
special commendation." 

The course was lengthened to three years in 1884, but gradu- 
ates of accredited high schools were admitted to the senior 
class, and were graduated in one year. Essentially the course 
had been remodelled; the first two years constituted a prepara- 
tory course. The third-year course included : Logic, psychology, 
reading methods, ethics, mineralogy, science methods, drawing, 
arithmetic methods, pedagogy, geology, grammar methods. It 
was almost wholly professional, including the subjects then 
considered essential to prepare a high school graduate for teach- 
ing a public elementary school. 

Mention of the special arrangement for observation and 
practice teaching was dropped from the catalogue after 1885. 
The catalogue was rewritten and rearranged in 1893. An- 
nouncement of the opening of a model and training school was 
made as follows: 

"A model and training school has been established in con- 
nection with the normal school, and will be opened at the be- 
ginning of the next school year. It is one of the Providence 
primary schools, and is located at the corner of Benefit and 
Halsey streets, about one-half mile from the Normal School. It 
will consist of three model and five training rooms, and will 
embrace the first five years of school work. The model rooms 
are for observation, and students of the normal school will first 
study systematically the work carried on here. This will give 
then a full view of the primary course in operation, and 
opportunities to observe children under instruction. The 
training rooms are for practice under the direction and criticism 



476 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

of skilled training teachers. Each student of the Normal School 
during the last year of his course will spend a considerable 
portion of her time in practice, and a part of the time will have 
actual charge of a room." 

When the Rhode Island Normal School removed to the 
present location in 1898, the lower floor of the new building was 
occupied by an observation and training school. Since then 
the demand for enlarged facilities has been met by establishing 
training schools in town and city public school buildings in 
various parts of the state. The characteristic arrangement 
consists of two public schoolrooms under a critic teacher, who 
is a member of the normal school faculty. Two normal school 
students are directly in charge of the schoolrooms, but under the 
instruction and guidance of the critic teacher, who divides her 
time between the two schoolrooms. Each student is respon- 
sible for the instruction of the pupils of one schoolroom, teaching 
approximately half time under the observation of the critic, and 
half time alone with her pupils. The critic supervises the work 
of the student-apprentice teachers, criticises it, points out faults, 
and suggests means and methods for improvement. The train- 
ing given the student-apprentice teacher is thorough, and 
the student-apprentice teacher must prove her ability to teach 
and govern her school before she may be recommended for a 
diploma. Practice teaching in the observation school, and 
teacher training in the training schools have been developed 
so thoroughly as to give the Rhode Island Normal School 
acknowledged leadership. 

The general course of study has been remodelled from time 
to time. When the maintenance of public high schools or the 
provision of facilities for high school education was made a man- 
datory town obligation, the normal school was relieved of 
responsibility for offering courses parallelling the work of public 
high schools for students coming to it from towns which pre- 
viously had supported only elementary schools. Consequently 



THE SCHOOL TEACHER. 477 

the preparatory course was eliminated as early as possible, a 
measure hastened in some part by the necessity of finding accom- 
modations for larger numbers of students desiring only profes- 
sional instruction. 

The abandonment of the preparatory course permitted an 
enrichment and extension of the professional course. From 
being a course that a high school graduate might cover in one 
year of attendance, the professional course now covers three 
years, and normal school graduation in Rhode Island stands for 
seven years of school attendance and preparation for profes- 
sional service, beyond graduation from an elementary school. 

The most recent catalogue says: "The purpose of the school 
is to provide efficient teachers for the children of the state. For 
this important work the school employs four main agencies: 

1. The normal department, for the study of educational 
theory and of the subject-matter taught in the public elementary 
schools. 

2. The observation division of the training department, for 
providing opportunity to see experienced teachers at work with 
classes of children such as are found in other public schools. 
This department is also used to some extent for experimental 
and demonstration work. It is here that the normal students 
make their first attempts at teaching groups of children. 

3. The practice division of the training department, for ex- 
perience in teaching in public schools under the guidance of 
skilled critics. 

4. The extension division, for those who are already teach- 
ing, whether normal graduates or not. Under this heading are 
included the regular Saturday lecture course, afternoon and 
Saturday classes, exhibitions of books and materials and of 
children's work, lecture courses by normal school teachers in 
various parts of the state, and such other aid as may be given 
by a corps of specialists in education. 

The course of study is arranged under several general titles, 

as follows:* 

Education: 1. Introduction to the study of education. 
2. The child and the school. 3. Elementary psychology. 

*Review courses for students conditioned on entrance are usually numbered one, and 
explain the apparent inconsistency in numbering courses in arithmetic, English, and 
drawing. 



478 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

4. Educational psychology. 5. Observation. 6. Pedagogy. 
7. Rhode Island school law and administration. 8. History 
of modern elementary education. 9. Practice teaching in the 
school of observation. 10. Conference. 11. Teaching in the 
training schools. 12. Psychology of school subjects. 

History: Two courses in methods. 

English: 2,5,6. Oral reading. 3. Oral and written com- 
position. 4. Grammar. 7. Literature. 8. English method. 

Science: 1 and 2. General science. 3. Botany and physi- 
ology. 4. Zoology. 5. School gardening. 6. Nature study. 

Geography : Two courses in methods. 

Arithmetic: 2. Principles and processes in arithmetic. 3. 
Methods in the teaching of arithmetic. 4. Advanced arith- 
metic. 

Art: 3, 5. Elementary drawing and art appreciation. 4. 
Hand work. 6r Methods in art teaching. 7. Applied peda- 
gogy in art. 

Music: 2. Sight singing and theory of music. 3. Methods 
of teaching public school music. 4. Practice in teaching public 
school music. 

Household arts: 1. Sewing for teachers. 2. Cookery. 
3. Domestic arts. 

Physical education: 1 and 2. Practical work and demon- 
strations. 3. Theory of physical education. 4. Practice 
teaching of physical education. 

Penmanship: Practical methods of teaching. 

Library science: Practical instruction in library methods, 
care of books and reference books. 

Candidates for admission must be graduates of public high 
schools or approved secondary schools, and must pass entrance 
examinations in arithmetic, English, history, geography and 
drawing, unless the candidate presents a certificate that he has 
completed successfully an approved review course during the 
high school course. Special review courses are maintained for 
those who fail in an entrance examination. Failure in two 
examinations disqualifies the candidate until the next examina- 
tions are given. 

The Rhode Island Normal School has been the chief agency 
for teacher training in Rhode Island. In recent years other 
facilities for training teachers have been developed at Rhode 



THE SCHOOL TEACHER. 479 

Island State College, at Rhode Island School of Design, and at 
Brown University. 

The state has undertaken, as part of its responsibility for 
supporting free public education, the training, at its expense, 
of those who are to become teachers in the public schools. It 
has improved teaching by establishing minimum standards for 
certification or license to teach, and by providing the means of 
attaining the standards. Moreover, it has undertaken to im- 
prove the qualifications of teachers in service (1) by extension 
courses at the normal school, (2) by the maintenance of a sum- 
mer school at the normal school, (3) by teachers' institutes, (4) 
by providing educational addresses and lectures for meetings of 
teachers, (5) by maintaining a professional library of educational 
books for loans to teachers, and (6) by publishing and dis- 
tributing educational books, pamphlets, circulars and tracts. 

THE TEACHER'S "CONTRACT." 

While the word "contract," in its exact legal meaning of a 
mutual agreement, is a misnomer when applied to the relation 
of the teacher to his employer, the word may be used in a special 
and limited sense as the best that the English language affords 
for concise expression of the idea of the relation. The relation 
of the teacher to the public school system is not and may not be 
determined exclusively by mutual agreement or contract. The 
state by statute and by other school law has established certain 
elements of the relation, and public policy, as well as the law, 
forbids a mutual agreement that attempts to waive rights 
reserved to either party by law, or that attempts to set up rights 
that in their enforcement might violate statutory or other school 
law, or public policy. 

The school act of 1800 provided "that the town councils of 
the several towns shall have the government of the town and 
the district schools in their respective towns." The town 
council in Providence was the body actually in control of the 



480 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

free public schools, nominally under the management of the town 
school committee, and employed and dismissed teachers. The 
act of 1828 placed public schools under control of school com- 
mittees, with "power to make all necessary rules and regula- 
tions, which they may deem expedient, for the good government 
of the public schools in their respective towns," and "to appoint 
all the schoolmasters or schoolmistresses to be employed in 
teaching the schools, taking care that such masters and mis- 
tresses are qualified for the task," and " to dismiss a schoolmaster 
or schoolmistress in case of inability or mismanagement." The 
revised school law of 1839 read as follows: "The school com- 
mittee shall appoint all instructors and instructresses, taking 
care that they be of good moral character, temperate and other- 
wise well qualified for the office; and may dismiss said in- 
structors or instructresses in case of inability or misconduct." 
The power to employ the teacher was given in 1845 to school 
district trustees, whose duty it was "to employ one or more 
qualified teachers for every fifty scholars in average daily 
attendance." The power to dismiss the teacher was reserved 
for the school committee, to be exercised through the com- 
mittee's right "to annul the certificates of such teachers as shall 
prove, on trial, disqualified, or who will not conform to the 
regulations adopted by the committee." The obvious neglect 
to provide for dismissal when the teacher held a certificate issued 
otherwise than by the committee was met by the suggestion 
that the school committee apply to the Commissioner of Public 
Schools or the county inspector to revoke the certificate of a 
teacher who had proved unsatisfactory, and was remedied in 
1851 by a law providing that "The school committee may 
dismiss any teacher, by whosoever examined, who shall refuse 
to conform to the regulations by them made, or for other just 
cause."* 

*The school committee could not delegate the power to annul a teacher's certificate. 
Randall's Appeal, 1853. The Bchool committee's right to dismiss a teacher holding a county 
certificate was sustained. Potter's Appeal, 1855. The school committee's right to annul 



THE SCHOOL TEACHER. 481 

The school committee was given the rights by an act passed 
in 1857, "after five days notice in writing" to "annul the cer- 
tificates of such as prove unqualified or will not conform to the 
regulations of the committee," and to "dismiss any teacher who 
shall refuse to conform to the regulations by them made, or for 
other just cause." After 1872 the school committee could 
dismiss only after "reasonable notice and a hearing of the 
party." 

The power to annul the teacher's certificate remained un- 
changed in the letter of the statute, although the power to 
certificate teachers was no longer exclusively a function of the 
school committee after the establishment of the Rhode Island 
Normal School in 1871. No occasion arose for testing the com- 
mittee's questionable right to annul a certificate granted by the 
Trustees of the Rhode Island Normal School. When the State 
Board of Education was given exclusive power to examine and 
license teachers the committee's right to annul certificates 
probably was abolished through operation of a general clause 
in the act of 1898 repealing all acts and parts of acts incon- 
sistent therewith. All doubt was removed when the statutes 
were revised in 1909. 

As the law stands now the State Board of Education ex- 
amines and certificates teachers, and may annul any certificate 
" after due notice to the holder thereof, and an opportunity for a 
hearing if desired." The school committee engages and hires 
teachers, and may "on reasonable notice and a hearing of such 
teacher, dismiss any teacher for refusal to conform to the reg- 
ulations by them made, or for other just cause." 

If the teacher's relation to the public school system be ex- 
amined from the viewpoint of contract, the power to engage the 
teacher may be called the right to enter into a contract, and 

a certificate after a hearing and for just cause was sustained. Appeal of Emor Smith, 1855 . 
Out of the last mentioned appeal came the Supreme Court decision that the Commissioner 
of Public Schools, after his decision has been approved by a Justice of the Supreme Court, 
may not reopen an appeal and grant a rehearing. Appeal of Smith, 4 R. I. 590. 



482 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

the power to dismiss the teacher may be called the right to 
terminate the contract. Both are essential to complete free- 
dom of contract, and the law recognizes a general right to termi- 
nate a contract by making the right to "specific performance" 
an "extraordinary remedy." Since 1845 the right to enter into 
a contract has been divided, and the right to dismiss, until the 
abolition of districts, was exercised by the school committee, 
which was not a party to the original engagement. If the rela- 
tion of the teacher to the public school system has been con- 
tractual since 1845, therefore, we are dealing with a peculiar 
sort of contract, particularly when it is remembered that the 
school committee's right to certificate teachers carried with it 
the right to limit the certificate to a prescribed territory or 
school, and the right to limit the certificate in time, rights which 
might be exercised effectually to control the contract to hire. 
So the State Board of Education may limit its certificates, and 
does actually issue special certificates for particular employ- 
ment and for limited periods of time. Since 1845, therefore, 
the teacher has been obligated to two parties representing the 
public school system, the party granting certificates or licenses 
to teach, and the party actually making the engagement for 
service. So also, the teacher sometimes has been compelled 
to deal with two parties who exercised an effective power to 
terminate the teacher's employment, through the right to annul 
the teacher's certificate or to dismiss the teacher. Against 
arbitrary exercise of either power to terminate the contract the 
law has aimed to protect the teacher by specifying the reasons 
warranting annulment or dismissal, and giving the teacher 
reasonable notice, an opportunity for a hearing,* and an appeal to 
the Commissioner of Public Schools. A relation so intricate may 
be studied to better advantage, however, entirely aside from con- 
tract. From this point of view, the teacher becomes a public 
official engaged in a public service, exercising certain definite 

* A hearing includes the right to introduce testimony of witnesses other than the teacher. 
Appeal of Brown, 1917. 



THE SCHOOL TEACHER. 483 

rights, undertaking certain definite obligations and respon- 
sibilities, bound by the law to perform certain definite duties, 
and entitled to certain definite rights. Enlightened public 
policy has established this professional and legal status for 
the teacher in pursuance of a definite aim to improve public 
schools. The rights and duties of the teacher may be sum- 
marized briefly as follows: 

1. The teacher must hold a certificate issued by or under the 
authority of the State Board of Education. No member of a 
school committee is eligible for employment as teacher, principal, 
assistant, supervisor or superintendent in any school under the 
control of his committee.* 

2. The teacher must be employed by the school committee.! 

3. The employment must be for the school year, unless the 
teacher is employed as a substitute, or to fill a vacancy, or to 
complete an unfinished term, or to fill a vacancy temporarily. 

In this connection, a form of teacher's contract reserving to 
the school committee the right to terminate the engagement on 
notice seems to be illegal. The effect of the contract would be 
to give the committee a right to dismiss the teacher for other 
than the "just cause" stipulated in the law, and without the 
hearing which the law requires. Sound public policy is violated 
by frequent changes of teachers. 

In some towns the teacher is appointed first for a probationary 
period and may expect reappointment from year to year during 
satisfactory service. 

4. The employment may not be at a salary less than $400 
per year. J 

The teacher's right to salary is not contingent upon the con- 
tinuance of school or upon the sufficiency of school funds. § 

5. The teacher's duties, prescribed by statute:** 

(a) To keep the school register and make reports re- 
quested by the Commissioner of Public Schools. 

♦Chapter 68, Sections 1 and 7, General Laws, 1909. 
tChapter 67, Section 9; Chapter 73, Section 6, General Laws, 1909. 
JChapter 458, Public Laws, 1909. 
§Hardy vs. Lee, 36 Rhode Island, 302. 
♦♦School Law of Rhode Island, 1914, page 93. 



484 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

(b) To keep a record of pupils vaccinated. 

(c) To implant and cultivate in the minds of all children 
committed to his care the principles of morality and virtue. 

(d) To conform to the rules and regulations prescribed 
by the school committee. 

(e) To prepare suitable programs for school holidays. 

6. The teacher's certificate may be annulled by the State 
Board of Education, after notice and a hearing, or the teacher 
may be dismissed by the school committee after reasonable 
notice and a hearing, for refusal to conform to rules and regula- 
tions, or for other just cause. 

THE STATE AND THE TEACHER. 

The state educates the teacher at public expense. The state 
aims to improve the qualifications of teachers in service by 
providing many and varied opportunities for more professional 
education and training than the minimum requirements for 
certification. The state has established a legal status for the 
teacher as a public officer, and protects the teacher in his em- 
ployment. The state has aimed to improve the economic 
status of the profession of education. The largest annual 
appropriation for public education is apportioned for use ex- 
clusively for payment of teachers' salaries. The statute law pre- 
scribes a minimum annual salary for teachers, and the state has 
undertaken a portion of the burden of maintaining the minimum 
salary. Certification unquestionably has improved the profes- 
sional status of the teacher, and every improvement in the 
professional status of the teacher has an effect, ultimately, upon 
the economic status of the teacher. The average salary of the 
public school teacher has advanced rapidly since the State 
Board of Education was given exclusive authority to license 
teachers. In the past decade the average salary has been 
increased more than $100. No state has been more generous 
than Rhode Island in the matter of pensions for teachers. 
Rhode Island maintains the only statewide teachers' pension 
supported exclusively and solely by the state. No munici- 



THE SCHOOL TEACHEE. 485 

pality has been asked or is permitted to contribute to the 
teachers' pension; no teacher has been taxed, or assessed, or 
invited, or permitted to contribute even a penny to the teachers' 
pension. The teachers' pension is granted under general law, 
and rules and regulations made by the State Board of Educa- 
tion, after long service in the profession of education, or after 
disability rendering the teacher unable to render efficient ser- 
vice. As it affects the economic status of the teacher, the 
pension may be viewed as a deferred salary, payment of which, 
after years of service, relieves the teacher of some part of the 
burden in earlier years of making provision by saving for the 
years when old age tends to make him less efficient in a system of 
schools, which must from time to time be readjusted to meet the 
ever changing demands of the social environment. The state, 
however, has justified the pension, as it has other measures for 
the improvement of teachers, from the viewpoint of public 
advantage. Thus higher salaries are justified, because better 
salaries tend to attract to the profession those who are more 
capable, whereas a low scale of salaries would tend to diminish 
the probability that capable persons would enter the profession. 
Education of teachers at public expense is justified by the fact 
that private education of teachers has failed to meet public 
requirements. Every measure that protects the teacher in 
his employment ultimately is for public advantage, for the same 
general reason that an employment that is not secure is not 
likely to attract those who are provident. The pension may be 
justified as a measure tending to improve the economic status 
of the profession and making it more attractive, and also because 
it permits the state, in a way entirely worthy and honorable to 
itself, to remove from active service those teachers who are no 
longer able to respond readily and to adapt themselves to the 
changes made necessary by the development of the social func- 
tions and responsibilities of the school. It is entirely creditable 
to Rhode Island that for nearly three-quarters of a century the 



486 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

state has recognized the importance of the educational principle 
that counsels constant effort to improve the teacher as the most 
important element in the school, and that the state has pursued 
a public educational policy consistent with this principle. The 
fruition of educational statesmanship has been the creation and 
maintenance of a teaching personnel nowhere surpassed when 
tested by preparation for professional service, by efficiency in 
the practice of teaching, by alertness and general willingness to 
undertake measures for further advancement, and by loyalty 
to the school as the state's most significant institution for the 
safeguarding of ideals of democratic citizenship. The teachers, 
acting through two representative associations, have adopted a 
code of professional ethics, and teachers are bound by a pledge 
of loyalty and service. 

ETHICS OF THE PROFESSION.* 

The watchword of the profession is service. No teacher can 
hope to do his best without the spirit of self-forgetfulness and 
self-sacrifice. Nothing is more unprofessional than the prefer- 
ence of one's own ease and comfort to the welfare of the school 
and the pupils. Rather, professional obligation requires that 
one give a large measure of his strength and time to his pupils. 
He must never measure the extent of his service in terms of 
money rewards or material advancement. A teacher should 
always cherish the ideal of the dignity of his profession. He 
should seek public support and sympathy only through sane, 
conservative and rational appeals to an intelligent community. 

Loyalty to his superiors should invariable characterize the 
words and actions of a subordinate everywhere. As long as one 
remains a member of a school organization, loyalty to the 
interests of the school and community demands the entire sup- 
pression of irresponsible criticism of the institution, its policies 
and its officers. Especially to be avoided and condemned are 
inciting, encouraging, or tolerating antagonisms among pupils 
toward officers or policies. 

A practice to be unsparingly condemned is that of giving up 
with scant ceremony for the sake of a better offer elsewhere a 

*Extracts from "Principles of Ethics and Comity for the Profession of Education" 
adopted by the Barnard Club and endorsed by the Rhode Island Association of Women 
Teachers, 1915. 



THE SCHOOL TEACHER. 487 

position that has been unconditionally accepted. A teacher 
who definitely accepts a position should perform the duties of 
that position during the term of engagement unless it is dis- 
tinctly stated, as a part of the engagement, that he may leave 
at any time after proper notice. 

A clear release from previous or conflicting engagements 
should be considered an indispensable prerequisite for eligibility 
to subsequent employment. It is clearly allowable for a teacher, 
with due consideration for the interests of the school with 
which he is at the time engaged, to ask for a release, as a matter 
of kindness and courtesy on the part of his employers, submit- 
ting with due loyalty and good faith to the decision of the em- 
ploying authority. If possible, without consequences exception- 
ally injurious to the schools concerned, loyalty and professional 
comity will prompt school officials to release, as soon as their 
positions can be satisfactorily filled, teachers who can materially 
better themselves elsewhere. 

Since our system of free public education is a division of the 
people's government, and since all school officers and teachers 
are public agents, to whom the people have entrusted the great 
public interest of education, it behooves the teacher or officer, 
in loyalty to the service in which he accepts an appoint- 
ment, to be thoroughly imbued with the fundamental principles 
of our democracy, which are the basal principles of school 
administration. He should be thoroughly familiar with school 
law, as the source of his powers and duties as a teacher and as 
the basis of professional ethics in his relations as a public servant. 
In assuming an appointment he obligates himself, legally as 
well as morally, to understand the public will as expressed in law 
and custom, to be faithful to that will, and to execute it in- 
telligently. 

Teachers should set for themselves a progressively higher 
standard of knowledge of their subjects. While no teacher 
can expect to have absolute knowledge of his subjects, what- 
ever unqualified statement he makes should be the exact 
truth. Accurate scholarship is a prime factor in com- 
manding respect and confidence, in securing attention, and 
in furnishing an ideal for the class. Furthermore, the teacher 
should keep constantly before his mind the ideal of self- 
improvement. He should always have the attitude of a 
learner. He should desire a thorough knowledge of the subject- 
matter that he is called upon to teach, and each year he should 
add to his stock of information in his own and in related sub- 
jects. He should, however, realize that the scholarly ideal 
includes more than a mastery of subject-matter. He should 
seek to know the minds <5f his pupils; he should aim to keep in 
touch with the advanced thought in his profession: he should 



488 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

be aware of the tendencies, modifications, and changes in the 
field of education as a whole, and he should have intimate 
knowledge of conditions in his own special field. For these 
reasons, every teacher should be a subscriber to at least one 
professional journal of recognized worth, should read a few of 
the most important books on education, including those appear- 
ing each year, should visit the classes of other teachers, and 
should at as frequent intervals as practicable attend teachers' 
meetings, and enroll in summer or extension courses in normal 
schools, colleges, or universities. 

Teachers should not consider themselves a class set apart 
simply to instruct children from nine o'clock until four. The 
teacher's function is the making of good citizens. The growing 
tendency towards a social and civic life in each neighborhood 
centering in the school building will afford teachers an oppor- 
tunity for participating in social and civic service. Principals 
and teachers should encourage the establishment of local groups 
and associations of youths and adults — recreational, educational 
and civic — at the school buildings for the purpose of creating and 
extending an active, intelligent and progressive local citizenship, 
alive to all the projects and problems of the life of the neighbor- 
hood, thus forming an organized and effective part of the public 
opinion of the whole community. The teacher who appreciates 
the broadening influences of these activities on his vocation in 
its relation to the children and his duty to the parents and state 
will have a higher conception of education. The educational 
process is not simply formal, but largely inspirational, affecting 
the children's thoughts and emotions in larger ways, initiating 
feelings and tendencies toward future actions, reaching beyond 
the home, into the workshop and market place, into social 
service and active citizenship. 

School and home are natural allies for the education of the 
public's children. Teachers and parents are joint-teachers of 
our children and youth as citizens of the state. Teachers, with 
school officers, should give due recognition to the interests and 
rights of the home and seek to establish friendly relations and 
intelligent co-operation between parents and themselves. Pub- 
lic education is maintained for the sake of the public, but it 
regards private and individual interests. The best way to 
promote public welfare through education is to provide a school 
education for the individual needs of pupils. 

The highest duties of the teacher center in his pupils. His is 
the work that makes or mars the efficiency of our school organi- 
zation. His service to his pupils, which is a service to commu- 
nity and state, is the real honor of the profession of education. 
Given ample authority by law to govern his school, the teacher 
directs its activities as a wise counselor and friendly guide. 



THE SCHOOL TEACHER. 489 

Placed in authority over his pupils, he may become to each a 
kind and helpful friend, not only an instructor of truth, but also 
an inspirer of life, teaching them the civic virtues of freedom, 
fairness, and fraternity. As instructor he is to lead the learner 
into new fields of truth, as inspirer he is to encourage the pupil 
and stimulate his self -effort, as governor he is to temper justice 
with mercy, as protector he is to guard the rights of pupils, and 
as teacher he is to energize worthy character. In his relations 
to his pupils, the teacher should recognize his professional 
obligation in the statutory injunction, "Every teacher shall 
aim to implant and cultivate in the minds of all chil- 
dren committed to his care the principles of morality and 
virtue." The teacher is charged with this duty by the public 
will, expressed in a law that is even silent on the question of 
subjects to be taught. 

THE TEACHER'S PLEDGE OF LOYALTY. 

Every teacher applying for certification is required by the 
State Board of Education to subscribe to the following oath or 
pledge of loyalty: 

I, as a teacher and citizen, pledge allegiance to the United 
States of America, to the State of Rhode Island, and to the 
American public school system. 

I solemnly promise to support the Constitution and laws of 
Nation and State, to acquaint myself with the laws of the State 
relating to public education, and the regulations and instruc- 
tions of my official superiors, and faithfully to carry them out. 

I further promise to protect the school rights of my pupils, to 
conserve the democracy of school citizenship, to honor public 
education as a principle of free government, to respect the pro- 
fession of education as public service, and to observe its ethical 
principles and rules of professional conduct. 

I pledge myself to neglect no opportunity to teach the chil- 
dren committed to my care loyalty to Nation and State, honor 
to the Flag, obedience to law and government, respect for public 
servants entrusted for the time being with the functions of 
government, faith in government by the people, fealty to the 
civic principles of freedom, equal rights and human brother- 
hood, and the duty of every citizen to render service for the 
common welfare. 

I shall endeavor to exemplify in my own life and conduct in 
and out of school the social virtues of fairness, kindliness and 
service as ideals of good citizenship. 



490 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

I affirm, in recognition of my official obligation, that, though 
as a citizen I have the right of personal opinion, as a teacher of 
the public's children I have no right, either in school hours or 
in the presence of my pupils out of school hours, to express 
opinions that conflict with honor to country, loyalty to American 
ideals, and obedience to and respect for the laws of Nation and 
State. 

In all this I pledge my sacred honor and subscribe to a solemn 
oath that I will faithfully perform to the best of my ability all 
the duties of the office of teacher in the public schools. 



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Aldrich, Edwin. Speech on the Setting off of Woonsocket from 
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1870. Rider collection. 

Allyn, Robert. Special Report on Truancy. Schedules., 

Angell, Frank C. Annals of Centredale. Central Falls, 1909. 

Angell, Oliver. Report on Operation of School Law. Pam- 
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Arnold, S. G. History of Rhode Island and Providence Planta- 
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Barnard, Henry. Draft of a School Law. Providence, 1845. 

Barnard, Henry. Journal of the Rhode Island Institute of 
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Barnard, Henry. Report on School Architecture. Providence, 
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Beaman, C. C. History of Scituate. Phenix, 1877. 

Bicknell, T. W. History of Banington. Providence, 1898. 

Bicknell T. W. History of Rhode Island Normal School. 
Providence, 1911. 

Bicknell, T. W. Sowams. Providence, 1908. 

Bliss, George N. East Providence. Providence, 1896. 

Bronson, Walter C. History of Brown University. Provi- 
dence, 1914. 

Carroll, Charles. School Law of Rhode Island. Providence, 
1914. 



492 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

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Chace, H. R. Maps of Providence, 1650, 1765, 1770. Provi- 
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Denison, Frederic. Westerly and Its Witnesses. Providence,. 
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Documents on Land Grant Colleges. Providence, 1892. Rider 
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Dorr, Henry C. Proprietors of Providence and Their Con- 
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Durfee, Job. Complete Works. Providence, 1849. 

Early Records of Providence. Reprint, 1892 et seq. 

Early Records of the Town of Portsmouth. Providence, 1901. 

Elton, Romeo. Callender's Historical Discourse. Providence, 

1838. 
Ely, W. D. Report on Settlement of Warwick. No Date. 

Field, Edward. State of Rhode Island and Providence Planta- 
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1902. 

Fuller, O. P. History of Warwick. Providence, 1875. 

Goodrich, Massena. Sketch of Pawtucket. Pawtucket, 1876. 
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Greene, W. C. Sketch of Lincoln. Providence, 1876. 
Griswold, S. S. Hopkinton. Hopkinton, 1877. 

Higginson, T. W. History of Public Education in Rhode 
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Hitchcock, Enos. Discourse on Education. Pamphlet. Rider 
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Keach, H. A. Burrillville. Providence, 1856. 

Kimball, Gertrude S. Providence in Colonial Times. Boston, 
1912. 



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Livermore, S. T. Block Island. Hartford, 1886. 
Long Wharf, Newport, Dedication. Newport, 1863. 

Messages of Rhode Island Governors. 

Mowry, Arlan. Speech on Setting off of Woonsocket from 

Smithfield — in the House of Representatives, March 4, 

1870. Rider collection. 
Mowry, A. M. The Dorr War. Providence, 1901. 
Mowry, William A. Recollections of a New England Educator. 

Boston, 1908. 
Munro, W. H. Bristol. Providence, 1880. 
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1917. 

Perry, Elizabeth A. History of Glocester. Providence, 1886. 
Peterson, Edward. History of Rhode Island and Newport. 

New York, 1853. 
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Barnard's Journal of the Institute. 
Potter, E. R. Rhode Island School Laws to 1867. A collection. 
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Ranger, Walter E. Report on R. I. State College. 

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Rhode Island State College. Annual Reports, 1888-1917. 

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494 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

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INDEX. 



Page 

Act of 1800 80, 298, 377, 462, 479 

Act of 1828 86, 91, 302, 333, 388, 464 

Act of 1845 135, 136, 306, 434, 435, 465 

Adequate support 144, 177 

Administration 216, 387-460 

Alleged backwardness 13, 34, 36, 179 

Angell, Oliver 101, 105, 150 

Apparatus 180, 212, 314, 316, 322, 453 

Appeals 172, 177, 185, 197, 403, 424, 433, 443, 447, 452, 460, 467 

Apportionment 93, 107, 138, 213, 298, 427, 433, 437, 442, 444 

Appropriations 146, 147, 305, 308, 309, 316, 321, 452, 454 

Attendance. .67, 101, 104, 107, 108, 116, 134, 143, 148, 152, 153, 157, 177, 

180, 193, 195-202, 206, 209, 220, 239, 306, 392, 447, 458, 463 

Auction duties 92, 118, 123, 272, 279, 302, 335 

Beginnings of a School System 37 

Blind, Education of 219, 327, 329, 438 

Board of Education. .177, 189, 194, 202, 220, 221, 228, 263, 267, 386, 431, 

433, 436, 440, 441, 442, 445, 446, 450, 467, 481, 484 

Brown University. .20, 23, 31, 34, 53, 164, 178, 186, 188, 224, 225, 233, 251, 

267, 273, 276, 280, 281, 282, 326, 329, 330, 438, 440, 449, 470, 479 

Census.. 160, 161, 193, 195, 199, 200, 205, 208, 240, 303, 315, 431, 

432, 443, 459 

Certification. .64, 81, 119, 135, 136, 139, 140, 163, 177, 180, 191, 224, 238 

245, 247, 248, 266, 326, 330, 389, 399, 403, 405, 406, 425, 433, 434, 437, 

440, 443, 455, 463, 465, 480 

Chronology of improvement 269 

Colonial schools 11 

Colored schools 100, 157 

Commissioner of Public Schools. . 135, 136, 142, 143, 170, 184, 190, 195, 224, 
227, 232, 256, 257, 259, 260, 263, 315, 329, 386, 403, 411, 412, 420, 425, 

433, 437, 445, 450, 465, 467, 480, 482 

Allyn 152, 154, 180, 181, 212, 215, 433 

Barnard. .26, 93, 114, 121, 129, 130, 132, 134, 135, 140, 163, 164, 166, 

169, 171, 178, 179, 180, 212, 265, 285, 300, 307, 389, 390, 393, 

402, 410, 420, 422, 427, 428, 430, 433, 434, 435, 436, 446, 465 

Bicknell 158, 159, 160, 175, 189, 192, 193, 194, 433, 436 



496 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

Commissioner of Public Schools. — Continued. Page 

Chapin 183, 184, 185, 192, 433 

Kingsbury 142, 181, 182, 433 

Potter . . 14, 142, 152, 154, 164, 172, 174, 178, 179, 180, 184, 185, 189, 

197, 285, 433, 435, 436 

Ranger 153, 227, 249, 250, 265, 433 

Rousmaniere 183, 433 

Stockwell. . 14, 26, 192, 198, 200, 206, 209, 210, 212, 214, 215, 229, 231, 

264, 433 

Condemnation 185, 213, 217, 270, 424, 428, 452 

Consolidation 244, 245, 316, 417, 453 

Constitution 83, 122, 123, 124, 223, 243, 332, 363, 394, 471 

Course of study. .54, 60, 65, 66, 98, 100, 101, 135, 139, 193, 214, 215, 226, 

229, 437, 443, 447, 457, 470, 472, 475, 477 
Critical years 107, 114 

Deaf and dumb 219, 220, 327, 330, 440 

Declaration of Independence 363 

Defectives 107, 214, 219, 326, 327, 329, 437, 440 

Deficient schools 246, 267, 318, 438, 439, 444, 453 

Density of population 309 

Dental inspection 258 

Deposit fund 106, 110, 115, 122, 123, 272, 285, 286, 353, 370 

Devotional exercises 155, 198 

District system. .94, 132, 137, 146, 166, 177, 180, 181, 182, 183, 193, 196, 
209, 210, 248, 253, 317, 322, 323, 402, 420, 428,450 

Dog taxes 147, 196, 213, 272, 291, 295, 322, 323, 432, 454 

Dorr, Thomas W.120, 121, 287, 288, 294, 353, 360, 362, 371, 390, 401, 426 

Economy 392, 393 

Educational policy 468, 470, 479, 483 

Employment of children. . .114, 120, 156, 160, 161, 193, 195, 197, 208, 209, 

239, 241, 258, 431, 444, 447, 458, 459 

Ethics for teachers 486 

Evening schools 160, 193, 195, 261, 314, 316, 322, 329, 397 

Evolution of responsibility. .33, 38, 54, 88, 272, 291, 293, 298, 321, 330, 

437, 439, 449, 453 

Exeter School 221, 327, 330, 437, 450 

Expenditures for schools 306, 321 

Extension and improvement 219, 319 

Factory inspection 209, 239, 241, 459 

Factory legislation 156, 160 

Finance 272, 452 

Financial policy 146, 213, 272 

Free public schools 61, 77, 87, 277 

Fuel tax 62, 65, 95, 102, 147 



INDEX. 497 

Page 

High schools. 66, 97, 99, 117, 235, 245, 262, 316, 431, 439, 449, 453, 457, 476 

Higher education 219, 224, 325, 327 

Holidays 260, 457 

Howland, John 58, 77, 94 

Illiteracy 159, 193, 199, 203 

Indian schools 70, 107, 138 

Individualism 14, 156, 434, 436 

Institutes 136, 139, 163, 326, 329, 433, 442, 479 

Irish schoolmasters 39, 462 

Judicial functions 137 

Length of school year. .35, 60, 104, 105, 135, 137, 139, 183, 192, 207, 209, 

238, 246, 251, 256, 267, 398, 457 

Liberty of conscience 11, 14, 36, 156, 197 

Libraries. .19, 26, 34, 41, 42, 44, 45, 131, 132, 135, 136, 137, 164, 185, 195, 

196, 251, 258, 266, 280, 326, 329, 330, 335, 433,437, 438,441, 442, 479 

Lotteries. .19, 28, 31-34, 42, 43, 44, 47, 50, 53, 68, 70, 72, 77, 85, 86, 91, 

118, 123,124,272,279,302 
Loyalty, teacher's pledge 489 

Mandatory maintenance 145, 177, 436, 437, 455, 460 

Mann, Horace 113, 129, 199, 422 

Mechanics and Manufacturers, Association of. .58, 77, 112, 116, 153, 298, 

393 

Medical inspection 257, 266, 318, 431, 438, 439, 450, 453 

Mileage 191, 326 

Monitorial system 66, 99 

Montessori 262 

Morrill act 185, 186, 188, 224 

Morality and virtue 61, 198, 284, 456 

Normal School. .135, 139, 163, 164, 177, 178, 185, 190, 195, 228, 251, 267, 
314, 326, 329, 433, 437, 440, 442, 443, 445, 447, 449, 450, 466, 469, 

470, 481 

Oaklawn School 223, 400 

Organization of State system 84 

Parochial and private schools. .39, 56, 154, 179, 193, 197, 206, 207, 275, 

276, 279, 315, 413, 437, 439, 459, 463, 464 

Patriotic instruction and programmes 215, 259, 431, 443, 456 

Pensions 247, 249, 266, 327, 330, 438, 440, 457, 484 

Permanent school fund. .83, 86, 87, 91, 118, 122, 123, 145, 279, 290, 302, 

307, 333 

Philosophy of school finance 330 

Physical training 251, 438, 457, 458 

Poll tax 124, 147, 213, 272, 291, 292, 294, 322, 323, 432, 447, 454 



498 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

Page 

Problems of administration 451 

Public schools to free schools 177 

Registers 154 

Registry tax 124, 147, 272, 291, 292, 321, 322 

Religious freedom 12, 36 

Religious question 154, 179, 275, 276 

Responsibility for education. .33, 38, 54, 88, 272, 291, 293, 298, 321, 330, 

432, 447, 448, 464, 479 
Rhode Island College. See Brown University. 

Rhode Island College of Pharmacy 234, 327, 438, 440, 450 

Rhode Island Institute for the Deaf 220, 327, 330, 450 

Rhode Island Institute of Instruction 26, 140, 164, 255, 329 

Rhode Island Schoolmaster 164 

Rhode Island School of Design. .214, 232, 251, 327, 330, 440, 443, 437, 441, 

479 
Rhode Island State College .. 188, 189, 214, 224, 251, 327, 330, 445, 449, 

450, 479 

Rights of pupils 458 

Roger Williams , 11, 19, 20 

Sanitation and sanitary standards 133, 256, 266, 438, 439, 452, 458 

Scholarships 165, 186, 187, 189, 214, 233, 234, 235, 437, 440, 449 

School age 209, 239, 267 

School committee. . 18, 20, 21, 32, 56, 63, 120, 136, 244, 245, 264, 387, 388, 

390, 398, 402, 404, 405, 420 

Sight and hearing tests 257, 444, 458 

Sockanosset School 222, 263, 450 

Sprague failure 375, 377, 380, 382 

State department of education 432 

State school system 447 

State Home and School 214, 221, 330, 450 

Summaries. .34, 74, 105, 106, 128, 139, 175, 216, 269, 316, 319, 325, 328, 

330, 381, 402, 420, 451, 479, 483, 484 

Summer school 231, 251, 267, 479 

Supervision. .63, 99, 117, 135, 183, 193, 207, 210, 211, 248, 251, 317, 401, 
402, 407, 426, 428, 432, 433, 437, 438, 439, 443, 450, 453, 457, 468 

Supplementary revenue 291 

Surveys 72, 90, 102, 129, 268 

Tax exemption 77, 179, 197, 208, 273 

Teacher's contract 479 

Teacher's duties 483 

Teachers' money 118, 135, 148, 213, 313, 327, 423, 442 

Teachers' pledge of loyalty 489 

Teachers' salaries. .35, 184, 195, 244, 247, 250, 266, 318, 327, 393, 394, 395, 

396, 453, 456, 461, 464 

Textile industry 53, 113 

Textile school 233 



INDEX. 499 

Page 

Textbooks. .38, 62, 65, 100, 101, 135, 136, 137, 147, 149, 154, 177, 180, 215, 

395, 420, 421, 427, 430, 431, 433, 442, 452, 459 

Towns. .75, 104, 105, 107, 109, 110, 111, 120, 235, 243, 305, 306, 309, 310, 

311 

Barrington 30, 33, 41, 209, 210, 235, 254, 257 

Bristol. . 13, 30, 31, 33, 41, 47, 76, 81, 157, 209, 235, 254, 257, 262, 281, 

471 

Burrillville 41, 44, 94, 235, 254, 262 

Central Falls 29, 69, 235, 255, 257, 261, 262 

Charlestown 32, 42, 94, 254, 281 

Cranston 16, 33, 43, 96, 235, 262, 423 

Coventry 27, 32, 43, 257, 262 

Cumberland 13, 30, 32, 43, 235, 254, 262, 423 

East Greenwich , 16, 20, 28, 43, 95, 281 

East Providence 13, 209, 235, 254, 257, 262 

Exeter 29, 44 

Foster 44, 68, 282 

Glocester 16, 32, 41, 44, 94, 95 

Hopkinton 33, 44, 95, 235, 257, 282 

Jamestown 16, 32, 44, 255, 257 

Johnston 16, 33, 45, 95, 210, 235, 254, 257, 262 

Little Compton 13, 30, 33, 45, 119, 255 

Lincoln 29, 69, 235, 254, 262 

Middletown 24, 29, 33, 45, 76, 81, 95 

Newport. . 11, 14, 15, 20, 24, 33, 47, 76, 95, 138, 147, 152, 157, 158, 192, 
209, 235, 254, 257, 262, 263, 281, 282, 461, 462 

New Shoreham 16, 32, 52, 235 

North Kingstown 29, 32, 44, 52, 95, 235, 282 

North Providence. ... 16, 33, 52, 119, 209, 254, 257, 262, 282, 403, 465 

North Smithfield 28, 69, 257 

Pawtucket 13, 53, 209, 235, 254, 257, 261, 262 

Portsmouth 11, 15, 24, 33, 53, 76, 119 

Providence. .11, 15, 16, 20, 33, 43, 44, 51, 52, 53, 76, 81, 95, 96, 111, 

116, 119, 121, 138, 140, 147, 154, 158, 175, 192, 206, 209, 235, 254, 

257, 262, 263, 280, 300, 317, 389, 426, 429, 430, 461, 465, 479 

Richmond 33, 42, 68, 482 

Scituate 32, 44, 68, 73, 76, 282 

Smithfield 16, 28, 68, 69, 76, 81, 119, 387, 465 

South Kingstown 32, 70, 235, 255, 281 

Tiverton 13, 30, 33, 70, 71 

Warren. .13, 20, 30, 31, 33, 70, 71, 209, 235, 254, 257, 262, 274, 275, 

280, 281 

Warwick 11, 15, 27, 71, 96, 235, 257, 261, 282, 423 

West Greenwich 16, 28, 32, 71, 72, 192 

West Warwick 235, 257, 262 

Westerly 32, 42, 44, 71, 72, 96, 235, 255, 257, 261, 262 

Woonsocket 29, 69, 209, 210, 235, 254, 257, 262 



500 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN RHODE ISLAND. 

Page 
Training teachers. . 162, 166, 234, 244, 251, 326, 438, 440, 449, 462, 466, 468, 

470, 475, 479 

Truancy 180 

Truant officers 202, 240, 431, 432, 459 

Tuition. .51, 62, 118, 137, 138, 144, 147, 152, 154, 156, 157, 177, 185, 196, 

292, 296, 321, 413, 419, 454 

Unwritten law 441 

Updike, Wilkins 125, 150, 153, 163, 285, 393 

Vocational Education. . 185, 186, 193, 223, 224, 232, 260, 266, 318, 397, 438, 

439, 440, 444, 445, 453, 454, 459 

Wayland, Francis 63, 66, 97, 102, 112, 153, 388, 389, 392, 393 

Writing schools 101 



ERRATA. 



Page 63. "This was the beginning of professional supervision in Provi- 
dence; it developed in 1839 into the appointment of the first superintendent 
of schools in America." The foregoing assertion was made after careful 
consideration of the data which follow: 

The order of appointment of superintendents, as commonly given, places 
Buffalo and Louisville before Providence. 

October 7, 1816, the school committee of Providence voted: "Whereas 
it is thought most advisable by the committee that the public schools in 
the town for the future (so far as comes within the authority of the school 
committee) be under the superintending care of reverend clergy interim 
between the several quarterly visitations; it is therefore voted that the 
Rev. Mr. Edes be and he is hereby appointed to superintend the public 
school in the first district, the Rev. etc." 

The office of superintendent was created April 9, 1838, in an ordinance 
of the city council, which provided: "That the school committee be and 
they are hereby authorized and requested to appoint annually a superin- 
tendent of the public schools, who shall perform such duties in relation to 
the public schools as said committee may from time to time prescribe." 
Nathan Bishop was elected superintendent on July 23, 1839, and entered 
upon his duties August 1, 1839. 

Louisville appointed Samuel Dickinson as "agent of the board of visitors" 
in 1838. James F. Clarke, who succeeded Mr. Dickinson, was designated 
as "superintendent of schools" on October 12, 1839.— O. L. Reid, Superin- 
tendent of Schools, Louisville. (Until October 12, 1839, neither Mr. 
Dickinson nor Mr. Clarke held a more definite school office than did the 
clergymen appointed in Providence in 1816. There can be no question 
that Providence holds priority over Louisville.) 

The New York Assembly, at the session of 1836-7, authorized Buffalo to 
employ a school officer exercising some of the functions of supervision. 
R. W. Haskins, the first incumbent of the office, resigned because he was 
unable to accomplish anything with the limited authority conferred upon 
him. N. B. Sprague declined an appointment to succeed Mr. Haskins, for 
the same reason that Mr. Haskins resigned. Oliver G. Steele was per- 
suaded to accept the office.— Henry P. Emerson, Superintendent, quoting 
from H. Perry Smith's History of Buffalo, 1884. (It is reasonable to hold 
that the school officer appointed in Buffalo under the legislation referred 
to was not a genuine superintendent of schools. Probably he had no more, 
or little more authority, than the clergymen appointed in Providence in 
1816.) 



Page 311, fine 5. Read " 1828 " for " 1829.' 



Wi 



